Project Overview
Click here to download a copy of the Lab Notebook Template for Project 1.
Laboratory work for Project 1 will be completed in pairs. Each assignment (e.g., workshops, quizzes, notebooks) must be completed individually.
Project 1 will introduce you to several basic lab techniques and analytical tools. Future projects will introduce additional skills and more complex laboratory methods. As you work through projects this semester, you should think about the purpose of each technique in terms of three major categories:
1) Processing techniques are those that are used to initiate and/or achieve some change in a sample. For example, processing techniques may be used to extract materials or to carry out a chemical reaction.
2) Separation techniques are used to purify the components of a mixture to some degree. Some separation techniques, such as filtration, are intended only to remove major components of a mixture and yield a mixture of compounds. Other separation techniques are true purification methods in that they are intended to yield a sample that consists of a single compound.
3) Characterization techniques are analytical methods that provide information about a sample. For organic chemists, the term “characterization” generally describes the process of gathering evidence to determine or verify the structure of a compound.
Learning Objectives
• Set up and employ a reflux apparatus
• Perform a vacuum filtration
• Purify a solid by recrystallization
• Remove an organic solvent by rotary evaporation
• Measure and analyze the melting point of a solid
• Obtain and analyze an infrared (IR) spectrum
Project 1 Score Distribution
Workshop: Melting Point Analysis 5%
Proficiency Quiz: Recrystallization & Melting Points 10%
Workshop: Infrared Spectroscopy 10%
Proficiency Quiz: Infrared Spectroscopy 10%
Project 1 Prelab Quiz 5%
Lab Notebook 1 60%