4-Methylcyclohexanol

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The purpose of this particular experiment is to acquire the product 4-methylcyclohexene from the reactant 4-methylcyclohexanol by altering the equilibrium and using an elimination (E1) reaction involving dehydration with a strong acid acting as a catalyst. The following techniques and analyses were utilized in this experiment: simple distillation, “salting-out” the crude product, neutralization, unsaturation test, and infrared spectroscopy. Simple distillation is necessary for separating a liquid mixture and collecting the purified product or desired result. “Salting-out” the crude product was employed as a means of an extraction and purification process; that is, the salt would extract the water from the mixture, which leads to a reduction in solubility of the organic compound. …show more content…

The purpose of an unsaturation test (e.g. bromine test) is to identify compounds with carbon-carbon double bonds or triple bonds – since the desired product involves an alkene (by definition, has carbon-carbon double bonds), an unsaturation test would be a useful method for determining that structure. Infrared spectroscopy is a way to analysis the reactant and the product by creating plots of absorption bands and then using those bands of different variations (or locating discernible peaks) to identify the functional groups for that particular compound – this is a key way to make sure the correct product was obtained. The results of the unsaturation test and infrared spectroscopy would provide enough information to conclude whether this experiment was successful or not (i.e. if an alkene is present and the alcohol is

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