IR Spectroscopy

NMR isn't the only tool that scientists have to identify chemicals. Another route is through something called Infrared Spectroscopy. Watch this video from the Royal Society of Chemistry to get introduced to the topic.

Again, here are major takeaways from the video:

-Bonds vibrate with different amounts of energy

-Lighter atoms vibrate at higher frequencies

-Stronger bonds also vibrate at higher frequencies

-Each bond vibrates at a different frequency due to the two factors listed above

-The graph that an IR spectroscopy machine produces is % transmission vs wave number

-The frequencies of each bond are already known, so it is a matter of identifying them on a graph

-The finger print region of an IR reading is below 1500cm-1, since it is unique for each compound

Watch this video to see the readings of each functional group on an IR graph.

Here is a chart with common frequencies and the corresponding bonds. Use this chart to identify the molecule shown in the below IR spectrum. The molecule has the formula C6H12O2. Check your answer here.

There is no quiz for this lesson. Move onto the test once done.

Images from: https://socratic.org/questions/how-can-i-distinguish-functional-group-region-and-fingerprint-region-in-a-infrar, https://webspectra.chem.ucla.edu/#Problems