Infrared

& Mass Spectroscopy

Infrared

You did this at AS Level and there isn't really anything new to learn here for A2. As long as you can
interpret a spectrum then that's about it.

Note: only molecules with polar bonds absorb IR, so N2 and O2 dont. IR causes the bonds to stretch, bend
and vibrate.

Summary

There are only 2 main regions that you really need to know: the carbonyl group at around 1700 cm-1 and
the broad peak from the OH group at > 3000 cm-1.

The messy region at around < 1000 cm-1 is known as the fingerprint region and as the name suggests, it is
only useful if you have two spectra that you can compare (just like if you were trying to match two
fingerprints).

It is very difficult to pick out information in this region.

Occasionally they might mention other regions such as a C-O bond at 1100 cm-1 but they normally
accompany these questions with a table. You always have your data booklet if needed anyway.

Here we have the OH peak (Q) at around 3400 cm-1 and also the carbonyl group (R) at 1750 cm-1 so it is
likely to be an acid.

Diatomic molecules such as N2 and O2 do not appear in the IR spectrum.

When a molecule absorbs IR radiation it will bend, stretch and vibrate, resulting in a change in polarity
(this is required to give an IR signal)....but this does not happen for diatomic molecules.

A very common question involving IR is to give you a spectrum with a carbonyl peak then a second
spectrum without that peak but has an OH peak instead. So they have reduced the carbonyl to an OH
group.

Mass Spectroscopy
You will already have done mass spectroscopy at AS level and there is not much more to add here.

Spectrum Analysis
Ethanol has the formula CH3-CH2-OH. We know the molecular mass = 46.

After the sample is placed in the spectrometer it is ionised to give:

This is the ion that is detected to give the peak at m/z = 46.

To identify the breakdown peaks you just have to start "knocking groups off" from the original molecule,
from either end.

So you could break off the OH group to give CH3-CH2+, which has a mass of 29.

You could break off the CH3 group to leave you with CH2-OH+, which has a mass of 31.

The other part

So what happens to the "other" part that is broken off (not the positive ion part)?

It becomes a radical, is undetectable and is lost. So if you break off the OH...then it is lost as:

When the molecule fragments you will always have a radical part and a positive ion part.
Thats about it for mass spectroscopy at A2 level.