Introduction to IR Spectroscopy

I tried to use a few analogies to explain how IR is used to analyse which functional groups are present in a sample.

Condensation Polymers

Amides

Sorry, there is an error in this. Ester hydrolysis is done with alcoholic ammonia, not aqueous ammonia.

Esters and Polyesters

Esters are a very special molecule made by reacting an alcohol with a carboxylic acid (or acyl chloride). Polyesters are polymers containing the ester functional group and are often used to make clothing.

Acyl Chlorides...Kinda

Today, we were supposed to learn about acyl chlorides. We did...kinda.

We actually spent most of the lesson talking about medicines, antibiotics and drug synthesis though. It was a great discussion and helped us realise the importance of the basics of organic chemistry in some awesome biochemistry.

There is quite a nice article about penicillin derivatives in this page: LINK

Carboxylic Acids

This is primarily a recap of Level 2 work, but now we also need to know how to make a carboxylic acid from a primary alcohol without also having the aldehyde present.

Carbonyl Compounds

We also looked at using Tollens' reagent to test for the presence of the aldehyde functional group. Aldehydes cause the formation of a black precipitate or, if we are lucky, a silver mirror.