Leah Bacon
December 10, 2014
Chemistry 3020
M/W 1:25 - 4:25
William DeBenedetti
Abstract
Molecular structure can be determined by Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy [IR, herein] by accurately identifying residues. IR is extremely sensitive to molecular structure because it measures the change in a molecule’s dipole moment due to vibrations caused by light absorbance. In this study, a variety of IR techniques were used to identify the composition of two unknowns by comparing sample spectra to spectral databases: the plastic film as cellophane and the pill as acetaminophen.
The amount of acetaminophen in the pill can be quantified by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy [UV-vis, herein] due to the linear …show more content…
All solutions were prepared with class A volumetric glassware, and samples were analyzed by IR using a Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS10 FTIR spectrometer set for 32 scans at a resolution of 4 cm-1 and by UV-vis using an Agilent Technologies 8453 UV-vis spectrometer at an integration time of 0.5 seconds. To first identify the unknown plastic film, a specular reflection attachment was used to acquire an IR spectrum. A plain mirror served as the background, and then the mirror was placed on top of the film sample to collect its IR spectrum. The spectral peaks were compared to spectra within the OMNIC library [2] and the online Spectral Database for Organic Compounds [SDBS, herein] [3] for accurate identification and supported by identifying the characteristic peaks for residues. The identification by specular reflection IR was also supported by the collection of an IR spectrum by