Report of Qualitative Analysis of Functional Groups

A functional group can be scientifically defined as either an atom or a group of atoms which replaces or replace a hydrogen or several hydrogen atoms on an organic compound (Barbara et LA, 2014). An organic compound is a compound consisting of only hydrogen and carbon atoms. Notable, organic compounds are characterized by functional groups. It is these functional groups that determine the chemical reactivity of both organic compounds as well as other molecular found in nature hence playing an important role in the nature of these compounds. Due to this reason, functional groups have always been used in organic chemistry to identify and later put various compounds into their respective groups. Alternative hypothesis All the five compounds tested showed a positive test in comparison to the standard tests hence their identity can be determined.

Material and reagents Test tubes, distilled water, Iron chloride, II do form, Sodium hydroxide solution, Potassium permanganate, aqueous ethanol, Dinitrophenyl hydrazine, Chromic acid, vertical ammonium n it rate Procedure Test for water solubility 3mls of each of the unknown compounds was added to 3mls of water in a test tube. The mixture was then shaken and left to settle and the observations were made. Cerric Nitrate test. Three drops of the compound to be tested were added to ten drops of an acidified vertical ammonium nitrate solution and left to settle. “Results. ” The results obtained were tabulated as shown below Compound Number Water solubility Cerric Nitrate Chronic acid Dinitrophenylhydrazin e Iodoform Potassium permanganate Iron chloride 7 Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Negative 9 Positive Negative Negative Negative Negative Negative Negative 11 Positive Positive Negative Negative Negative Negative Negative 13 Negative Negative Positive Positive Positive Negative Negative 14 Negative Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative Negative Discussion Qualitative analysis of functional groups of organic compounds is part of the science of organic chemistry.

Organic chemistry is a science branch which deals with the study and determination of both the structure, properties as well as the chemical reactions associated with the organic compounds. The study if the characteristics associated with the organic compounds normally focuses on the study of the functional groups of which are the determinants of their characteristics(Bruce, 2014) Chemical tests that are performed mainly target the functional groups which are then used to identify and classify a particular unknown element(Yorker et la, 2010). The table below shows a summary of various types of functional groups associated with the organic compounds and which play a role in their distinctive characteristics. These functional groups complexed with ceric nitrate ions to form a red brown color.

The reaction is demonstrated as shown below The chromic acid test was used to test for primary and secondary alcohols as well as aldehydes. Compounds 13 and 14 showed a positive test with the chromic acid which concludes that they were either primary, secondary alcohols or aldehydes. In this reaction, the functional groups present in the compounds were oxidized to carboxylic acids therefore reducing the chromium ions present in the acid. In the reaction involving Potassium permanganate and iron chloride all the results were negative. This is due to the presence of specific functional groups that can react with a number of chemicals to give both visible chemical and physical characteristics. This signifies that when one is given a certain unknown organic compound, they can be able to determine its identity using standard laboratory tests.