University of St. Thomas' 2004 Research Symposium, Abstract Two

University of St. Thomas featuring:

Performing a Base Deuterium on C7 Ketones*...

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This organic lab experiment was based on a previous experiment in that the previous experiment involved six isomeric ketones, whereas this experiment has extended to the acyclic C7 ketones. A ketone is a class of organic compounds that have a carbonyl group linked to a carbon atom in each of two hydrocarbon radicals. In this experiment, a student is given the mass spectra of the undeuterated C7 ketones and a sample of one of them on which to perform a base deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen which has one neutron) exchange reaction. The molecular ion given from the gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to determine the number of hydrogens that were replaced by deuteriums. Furthermore, the location of the deuteriums in the molecule was determined by the change of the MS fragmentation pattern.

Based on those two pieces of information, the experimenter was expected to identify the possible saturated acyclic (having an open chain structure) heptanones he/she has and explained the fragmentation patterns. In addition to this, using a 50/50 mixture of D2O and CH3OD allowed the C6 ketones the full deuterium exchange on all thirteen C7 ketones, and the HP G1800A with the auto-sampler provided the results to this experiment. The main purpose of this lab experiment was to illustrate and understand fundamental chemistry concepts such as catalysis, the use of stable isotopes, and knowing extraction methods and mass spectrometry to name a few.

Literature Cited

Abdul-latif M, Abraham S. GC/MS applications in the undergraduate organic lab: deuterium exchange in isomeric acyclic C7 ketones revisited. 2004 UST Research Symposium; 2004 Apr 16; Houston (TX) at Crooker Center: [the program booklet], pg. 7.

--Reviews by Kathy Nguyen, 2004.

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* The full-length abstract is not displayed for public view, because it is compiled in the UST's 2004 Research Symposium program booklet. For more information on what the Research Symposium is, please visit the site: The UST Research Symposium.