Chemistry and Biotechnology
Elemental Analysis
1Professor, School of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biotechnology, Mapua Institute of Technology; 2Student, CHM146L-B31, School of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biotechnology, Mapua Institute of Technology
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ABSTRACT
Elemental analysis of organic compounds determine the elements present in them but they do not give the actual structure or the functional groups present. Since all organic compounds contain hydrogen and carbon, most tests consist of only the determination of oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen and halogens – elements that are most of the time the only ones involved in organic compounds. The experiment focused on the Sodium Fusion test, which tested for all elements except oxygen. In the test, the test compound is broken down into its elements, which then bond individually with sodium. The presence of sulfur was tested either with lead acetate or sodium nitroprusside. The presence of nitrogen was tested with ferrous ammonium sulfate and potassium fluoride. The presence of any halogen was tested by a flame test with copper wire and the identification of the exact halogen was done using silver nitrate. Careful experimentation was needed in order to avoid false positive and false negative results.
Keywords: elemental analysis, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, halogens, sodium fusion, lead acetate, sodium nitroprusside, flame test[pic]
INTRODUCTION
Organic compounds are composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen, and in certain functional groups, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens. When presented with an unknown organic compound, it is at times enough to determine the elements present in the compound and not the exact functional groups. The process in which the elements of a compound are determined is called elemental analysis. One of the tests done to conduct elemental analysis is the Sodium Fusion Test. In this experiment, sodium fusion test is used in elemental analysis of qualitative determination of elemental
1Professor, School of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biotechnology, Mapua Institute of Technology; 2Student, CHM146L-B31, School of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biotechnology, Mapua Institute of Technology
[pic]
ABSTRACT
Elemental analysis of organic compounds determine the elements present in them but they do not give the actual structure or the functional groups present. Since all organic compounds contain hydrogen and carbon, most tests consist of only the determination of oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen and halogens – elements that are most of the time the only ones involved in organic compounds. The experiment focused on the Sodium Fusion test, which tested for all elements except oxygen. In the test, the test compound is broken down into its elements, which then bond individually with sodium. The presence of sulfur was tested either with lead acetate or sodium nitroprusside. The presence of nitrogen was tested with ferrous ammonium sulfate and potassium fluoride. The presence of any halogen was tested by a flame test with copper wire and the identification of the exact halogen was done using silver nitrate. Careful experimentation was needed in order to avoid false positive and false negative results.
Keywords: elemental analysis, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, halogens, sodium fusion, lead acetate, sodium nitroprusside, flame test[pic]
INTRODUCTION
Organic compounds are composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen, and in certain functional groups, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens. When presented with an unknown organic compound, it is at times enough to determine the elements present in the compound and not the exact functional groups. The process in which the elements of a compound are determined is called elemental analysis. One of the tests done to conduct elemental analysis is the Sodium Fusion Test. In this experiment, sodium fusion test is used in elemental analysis of qualitative determination of elemental
References: 1. Lancashire, Robert John (2005) Qualitative Analysis of Organic Compounds., http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm/lab_manuals/c10expt25.html 2. Baluyut John Y. G., De Castro Kathlia A., Organic Chemistry Laboratory for Chemical Engineering Students Part 2, 2004 3. Klein, David (2012). Organic Chemistry. Danvers. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 4. Wikipedia (2012). Sodium Fusion Test. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_fusion_test