21.1 Spectroscopic identification of organic compounds
Essential idea:
Although spectroscopic characterization techniques form the backbone of structural identification of compounds, typically no one technique results in a full structural identification of a molecule.
Understandings:
- Structural identification of compounds involves several different analytical techniques including IR, 1H NMR and MS.
- In a high resolution 1H NMR spectrum, single peaks present in low resolution can split into further clusters of peaks.
- The structural technique of single crystal X-ray crystallography can be used to identify the bond lengths and bond angles of crystalline compounds.
Applications and Skills:
- Explanation of the use of tetramethylsilane (TMS) as the reference standard.
- Deduction of the structure of a compound given information from a range of analytical characterization techniques (X-ray crystallography, IR, 1H NMR and MS).