Problem set #2 (Meeting 2)
ATTN: answers to the below questions are due at the start of your lab period; these answers should be part of your pre-lab write-up.
1. What drives the reaction towards the elimination product?
2. What is the expected alkene product formed from the dehydration of the following alcohols? Show major products only. help
3. In the lab, you will conduct two qualitative tests to determine the presence of a double bond in the final product. What do you observe? Show the equations including the correct stereochemistry of the products.
4. How do you know which layer to keep during the work-up of your reaction mixture in general? Which one is it in this experiment? Explain briefly.
5. Why do you need to cool the Hickman head and the air condenser with a wet paper towel?
6. Which one is the proper setup for the distillation? Explain briefly why the other setups are improper.
7. Why is it important not to use too much drying agent? How do you know that you have enough drying agent?
8. Using PC Spartan 2002 at the Science Learning Center (4 Floor Young Hall) do the following:
a. Use the alcohols and their protonated forms that you drew last week for this exercise.
b. Select Calculations from the Setup menu.
The following window should appear. Select the options shown.
Verify the Charge is Neutral (for -OH) or Charge is Cation (for -OH2) and Multiplicity is Singlet. Click OK.
Select Submit from Setup menu.
Then click OK to exit dialog. Close the previous window.
Select Submit from Setup menu. When the calculation is completed you will be notified. It should not take more than 2-3 minutes under normal circumstances.
Using the distance tool, measure the distance C-O and record it.
Under the Display menu, select Properties. Click on the oxygen atom.A new window should appear (atom properties). Record the value for the Natural Charge. Do the same for the C-atom the has the oxygen attached.
Generate three plots:
1. The C-O bond distance as a function of the type of alcohol or carbocation (primary, seconday, tertiary) (You should have six points in your graph).
2. Do the same for the natural charge on the oxygen and carbon as a function of the carbocation.
Based on the obtained graphs, answer the following questions:
1. How does an added proton influence the C-O-bond distance in the different molecules? Rationalize the changes.
2. How does it influence the partial charges on the carbon and oxygen?