3-Chloro-3 And 7-Dimethyloctane Lab Report

In this lab, 3-chloro-3,7-dimethyloctane, obtained during a pervious lab, was used to understand the E2 dehydrohalogenation reaction of an alkyl halide. This reaction is possible because 3-chloro-3,7-dimethyloctane contains a carbon-halogen bond, and the chlorine attached to the molecule is a good leaving group. In the dehydrohalogenation of 3-chloro-3,7-dimethyloctane, 1.320g of the starting compound was obtained. This was then added to a mixture of boiling 6mL ethanol and1mL potassium hydroxide. This solution was then heated for 15 minutes until a precipitant formed. This precipitant was white and looked slightly powdery. The liquid in the round bottom flask was poured into a test tube filled with 15mL of water. When this was done, two layers

When the aqueous layer was added to the vial, calcium chloride was then added to dry the solution. If the solution was dry enough, a large peak between 3300-3500 would have been present in the IR spectrum. In order to obtain the IR spectrum two Classification test were performed. The Bromine test and Permanganate test were used to determine if alkenes were indeed present in the solution. Both test were positive for the compound. During the Bromine test, the bromine transformed from brown to clear indicating the presence of an alkene. Also during the permanganate test, the compound changed from purple to brown. This also indicates the presence of an alkene, which indicates the E2 reaction did occur. These two positive test allowed for a GC spectrum to be obtained, if the IR confirmed there was no water in the final compound. The IR spectrum obtained, did contain a peak at 3388 cm-1, indicating an alcohol group present, but the degree of the peak was so small that a GC spectrum could be obtained. This peak could have represented water present in the solution, but its presence was so low that it would not affect the