Amide Synthesis on Aluminum Oxide Catalyst
Introduction
An amide is a functional group containing a carbonyl group bonded to a nitrogen
atom or any compound containing the amide functional group. They usually form from
nucleophilic substitutions of carboxylic acid derivates with amines. For this experiment,
the synthesis of an amide is conducted using anhydrous conditions in an inert
atmosphere. Specifically, an aluminum oxide surface is utilized along with acetic
anhydride to react with an unknown primary amine. It is also used as an acid absorbed
to neutralize the acetic acid by-product.
This experiment uses techniques such as solid-liquid extraction, gravity filtration,
IR spectroscopy, HNMR spectroscopy and melting point determination. For solid-liquid
extraction, gravity filtration was used to separate the solid from the liquid product. Both
IR spectroscopy and HMNR spectroscopy are used in this experiment. IR spectroscopy,
or infrared spectroscopy, tells which bonds or functional groups are in a compound
based on band positions. Certain absorbance bands at specific wavenumbers are unique
per functional groups or bonds. HNMR, or hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance,
spectroscopy is used to identify and confirm the identity of compounds. It tells how
many protons are in the compound, how the protons are connected/interact in the
compound, and how many different types of protons the compound has. Each peak in
the HNMR spectrum shows a type of proton. The leftmost peak is the solvent peak and
the rightmost is the reference peak, which are not counted as a proton. Each peak is at a
certain ppm which will represent certain functional group’s proton. Both methods are
used to determine and confirm identities of compounds.
Balanced
Mechanism:
