Analysis Of Isopentyl Acetate

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The experimental Fischer esterification of 8.92g of acetic acid with 5.0g of isopentyl alcohol using concentrated sulfuric acid as a catalyst yielded 4.83g (65.3% yield) of isopentyl acetate. The product being isopentyl acetate was confirmed when the boiling point during distillation had similar characteristics to that of the literature boiling points2. Physical characteristics like color and smell also concluded a match of our product with what was intended. 1H-NMR spectroscopy analysis supported this claim due to the fact that the integration values and chemical shifts were comparable to isopentyl acetate. Lastly, infrared spectroscopy (IR) showed similar key characteristics of our product’s wavelengths to that of pure isopentyl acetate5. …show more content…

The C-H (sp3) hydrogens from our product displayed at wavelength 2959 cm-1 correlates to the methyl groups located on the ends of isopentyl acetate4. A really prominent, strong peak located at 1742 cm-1 shows that a C=O ester stretch is located in the product, along with at 1244 cm-1 the spectrum shows a strong peak representing the C(=O)-O stretch that is crucial to the structure of isopentyl acetate. Shown in my IR spectrum is a weak O-H (H-bonded) peak at 3464 cm-1 which shows that I have an impurity of isopentyl alcohol in my product. Isopentyl alcohol has similar boiling points and density as my product so the impurity could have easily boiled out with the isopentyl acetate during distillation. The isopentyl alcohol was also present in my 1H-NMR spectrum backing up the impurity peak at 3464

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