You are given an impure sample of a phenol and asked to purify it. You ask for i

Question

You are given an impure sample of a phenol and asked to purify it. You ask for information about the suspected impurities, but it seems no one really knows. So you ask for an IR/NMR spectra of the impure sample. Upon scrutinizing the IR spectrum carefully, you find that there is a small, but significant, signal at about 1700 cm-1, a small broad peak at about 3000 cm-1 and a much stronger broad peak centered at about 3580 cm-1. That gives you an idea about the nature of the impurity, so you scrutinize the 13C NMR spectrum, looking for a short signal at ~170 ppm- you find it. You then look for a signal in the 10-13 ppm range in the 1H NMR spectrum- there seems to be a little

Explanation / Answer

3300 should be a rounded peak indicating your alcohol 3550 hints at a nitrogen compound such as an amine 1700 is going to be a double bond somewhere sometimes around 1600ish you get your benzene ring but later closer to 1700 you get a C=O bond show up phenol = C6H5OH if you have a C=O you've got problems so unless this teacher is satan I think all you should worry about is the possible NH2, NH3, NH4OH guys. Take a small sample and add HCl to it...(you will probably get a white precipitant, ammonium chloride) You could also smell your sample. pure phenol with smell like alcohol but amines smell nasty sometimes, nauseating! that's a sure fire way. purification would probably pending previous tests result in precipitating out the N complex and filtering. Other methods might include a distillation ( alcohols boil off very quickly so it's an easy way to purify alcohols)

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