Resumen de Infrared Spectroscopy in the General Chemistry Lab
Acquisition of infrared spectrometers for use in general chemistry lab was made possible through the NSF-sponsored Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI) program. Three laboratory exercises suitable for first-year students are described in which students learn to interpret infrared spectra for simple structural identification. A polymer identification lab is the first of these with minimal sample preparation. It uses familiar household polymer samples and teaches students how to use infrared spectral data to determine what bond types are present in the polymers. In a second lab, students learn to prepare potassium bromide pellets of fluorene derivatives and identify them by their functional group differences. The final exercise combines IR with several other lab techniques to identify an organic acid from a field of fourteen possibilities.
