Name:

Student Number:

CHEM1002 Reactivity and Function in Chemistry

Post-laboratory questions

Post-laboratory questions are due at 11.59pm the following week on the day before your scheduled
lab using the Turnitin submission link on Blackboard, i.e. six days after your lab. No late submissions
will be accepted. Make sure you bring a copy to the lab to help you during the lab session.

Experiment 4: Preparation and reactions of cyclohexene

Include your answers in the space after each question.

1. Describe how using a distillation set up for this reaction benefits both the reaction rate as well
as product yield.
- The distillation was set up at a slow rate and at a constant temperature and motion. The slow
distillation rate is employed to ensure all the vapours in the reaction vessel to fully
condensate into liquid in the receiving vessel, hence increasing the product yield.

2. Why must the receiving vessel at the end of the condenser tube be resting in an ice slurry
bath for the reaction that you conducted?
- To avoid evaporation loss in order to obtain a higher/more significant of percentage yield of
cyclohexene. During the distillation process, there could be a relatively small amount of
cyclohexene evaporated off, therefore, using an ice slurry bath could cool down the distillate
and reduces the chances of being evaporated into the atmosphere.

3. Why was Na2CO3 solution added? Which layer was the lower layer (aqueous or organic)?
- Na2CO3 acts as a aqueous solution for solvent extraction process as the distillate still contains
a partial amount of cyclohexanol and water from the phosphoric acid besides contain mostly
cyclohexene. By adding Na2CO3, it enables the partial amount of cyclohexanol and water to
dissolve.