Friday, August 9, 2013

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - CHAPTER 11: ALKENES; INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY AND MASS SPECTROMETRY

Important Concepts

1. Alkenes are unsaturated molecules. Their IUPAC names are derived from alkanes, the longest chain incorporating the double bond serving as the stem. Double-bond isomers include terminal, internal, cis, and trans arrangements. Tri- and tetra substituted alkenes are named according to the E, Z system, in which the R, S priority rules apply.
2. The double bond is composed of a σ bond and a π bond. The σ bond is obtained by overlap of the two sp2 hybrid lobes on carbon, the π bond by interaction of the two remaining p orbitals. The π bond is weaker (~65 kcal mol-1) than its σ counterpart (~108 kcal mol-1) but strong enough to allow for the existence of stable cis and trans isomers.
3. The functional group in the alkenes is flat, sp2 hybridization being responsible for the possibility of creating dipoles and for the relatively high acidity of the alkenyl hydrogen.
4. Alkenyl hydrogens and carbons appear at low field in 1H NMR (δ = 4.6– 5.7 ppm) and 13C NMR (δ = 100– 140 ppm) experiments, respectively. Jtrans is larger than Jcis, Jgeminal is very small, and Jallylic is variable but small.
5. The relative stability of isomeric alkenes can be established by comparing heats of hydrogenation. It decreases with decreasing substitution; trans isomers are more stable than cis.
6. Elimination of haloalkanes (and other alkyl derivatives) may follow the Saytzev rule (nonbulky base, internal alkene formation) or the Hofmann rule (bulky base, terminal alkene formation). Trans alkenes as products predominate over cis alkenes. Elimination is stereospecific, as dictated by the anti transition state.
7. Dehydration of alcohols in the presence of strong acid usually leads to a mixture of products, with the most stable alkene being the major constituent.
8. Infrared spectroscopy measures vibrational excitation.The energy of the incident radiation ranges from about 1 to 10 kcal mol-1 (λ ~ 2.5 - 16.7 μm; ʋ ~ 600 – 4000 cm-1). Characteristic peaks are observed for certain functional groups, a consequence of  tretching, bending, and other modes of vibration, and their combination. Moreover, each molecule exhibits a characteristic infrared spectral pattern in the fingerprint region below 1500 cm-1.
9. Alkanes show IR bands characteristic of C – H bonds in the range from 2840 to 3000 cm-1. The C=C stretching absorption for alkenes is in the range from 1620 to 1680 cm-1, that for the alkenyl C – H bond is about 3100 cm-1. Bending modes sometimes give useful peaks below 1500 cm-1. Alcohols are usually characterized by a broad peak for the O – H stretch between 3200 and 3650 cm-1.
10. Mass spectrometry is a technique for ionizing molecules and separating the resulting ions magnetically by molecular mass. Because the ionizing beam has high energy, the ionized molecules also fragment into smaller particles, all of which are separated and recorded as the mass spectrum of a compound. High-resolution mass spectral dataallow determination of molecular formulas from exact mass values. The presence of certain elements (such as Cl, Br) can be detected by their isotopic patterns. The presence of fragment-ion signals in mass spectra can be used to deduce the structure of a molecule.
11. Degree of unsaturation (number of rings 1 number of p bonds) is calculated from the molecular formula by using the equation
          Degree of unsaturation = (Hsat - Hactual)/2

where Hsat = 2nC + 2 - nX + nN (disregard oxygen and sulfur).

From "Organic Chemistry" Textbook of VOLLHARDT & SCHORE

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