Experiment 6 Elemental Analysis Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are the predominantly elements found in organic compounds.

Other elements commonly found in organic compounds are nitrogen, sulfur, chlorine, bromine, and iodine. The less common elements are phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, mercury as well as other metals. The covalent nature of bonding of these metals does not allow direct testing for the presence of each. Since most organic compounds do not ionize in solution, it is necessary to convert them to ionizable compounds. As such, the presence of these elements can be shown by testing the ions in solution. The usual procedure is to break up the organic molecule by heating the substance (by fusion) at high temperature with metallic sodium or a mixture of anhydrous potassium carbonate and powdered magnesium. The transformation to ionzable inorganic compounds though fusion with sodium is represented by the equation below: Organic compound (C, H, O, N, N, S, X) + Na NaCN + Na2S + NaOH + etc After the fusion, the ionic tests used in inorganic qualitative analysis are applied in order to show the presence of each element. By sodium fusion, the sulfur in organic compounds is transformed to sodium sulfide. The presence of sodium sulfide can be tested using two methods. The first is shown by the formation of a black precipitate with Pb(II). In this test, lead acetate is used to prevent the formation of other insoluble lead salts. The second method is the sodium nitroprusside test; aqueous nitroprusside solution forms a deep blue-violet solution with sulfide ions. The addition of silver nitrate to an acidified fusion solution will precipitate the silver halide (AgX) which is white (AgCl), pale yellow (AgBr) to yellow (AgI) depending on the halide ion. If cyanide and sulfide are present, it will form AgCN (white) and Ag2S (black). In order to remove cyanide, it can be boiled with dilute nitric acid. When a mixture of halides is present, the analysis involves the oxidation of these halides into their corresponding halogens. These halogens are characterized depending on the color imparted to the CCl 4 phase: (Iodine purple layer; Bromine orange brown layer; Chlorine yellow greenish layer). 2I- + 2 Fe3+ 2Fe2+ + I2 or 10X- + 16H+ + 2MnO4- 2Mn2+ + 5X2 + 8H2O The NaCN formed after fusion is converted to sodium ferrocyanide which produces Prussian blue precipitate with Fe(II) in acid solution. 2NaCN + FeSO4 Fe(CN)2 + Na2SO4 Fe(CN)2 + 4NaCN Na4Fe(CN)6 3Na4Fe(CN)6 + 4FeCl3 Fe[Fe(CN)6]36+ (deep blue color) + 12NaCl Oxygen can be detected in the presence of iron(II) hexathiocyanatoferrate(III), Fe[Fe(SCN) 6]. This salt will dissolve in the unknown organic compound if it contains oxygen giving a deep red solution. Experiment 7 Solubility Behavior of Organic Compounds *Ill provide a copy of the solubility classes. Experiment 8 Qualitative Tests for Organic Compounds *Ill send you my outline during my Chem31.1 days.
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