CH 113 - CHEMISTRY FOR LIFE

SCIENCES STUDENTS

PART II: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

DR. NDOILE, M. M 1
 INTRODUCTION
• Organic chemistry is the chemistry of the compounds of
carbon, which, in combination with many other elements
(in particular H, N, O, S, P and the halogens) form over
5,000,000 compounds.
Many of these compounds are of immense importance,
as the list below shows:
Fuels Detergents Pesticides Hormones
Solvents Plastics Plant poisons Antibiotics
Explosives Rubber Vitamins Preservatives

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 MOLECULAR FORMULA
• Gives information about what kind of atoms are there and how
many of them make up a molecule, before assigning a structural
formula to a compound, we must first know its molecular formula

• In order to establish the molecular formula of a compound, the

following must be carried out:
– A qualitative elemental analysis: to find out what kinds of
atoms are present in the molecule
– A quantitative elemental analysis: to find out the relative
numbers of the different atom, i.e. to determine the empirical
formula
– A molecular weight determination: which shows the actual
numbers of the different kinds of atoms

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• A qualitative elemental analysis:
– Presence of carbon or hydrogen in a compound
is detected by combustion:
heat
(C,H) + CuO Cu + CO2 + H2O

• A quantitative elemental analysis: C, H

– Quantitative combustion is used.
Example: A sample weighing 9.67 mg produced
25.53 mg of CO2 and 21.56 mg of H2O, calculate the
empirical formula. 4
 Calculation:
• Only the fraction C/CO2 = 12.01/44.01 of the carbon
dioxide is carbon and only the fraction 2H/H2O =
2.016/18.02 of the water is hydrogen

Therefore:
Weight of C = 25.53 x 12.01/44.01 = 7.24 mg
Weight of H = 21.56 x 2.016/18.02 = 2.41 mg

% composition:
%C = (7.24/9.67) x 100 = 74.9
%H = (2.41/9.67) x 100 = 24.9
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 EMPIRICAL FORMULA

• Is the simplest formula showing the relative

numbers of the different kinds of atoms in a
molecule.

C: 74.9/12.01 = 6.24 moles

H: 24.6/1.008 = 24.7 moles
Therefore, we have: C6.24H24.7

Dividing by the smallest number:

C: 6.24/6.24 = 1, H 24.7/6.24 = 3.96 (approx.4)
Therefore, the empirical formula is CH4 6
 MOLECULAR WEIGHT: MOLECULAR
FORMULA

• Molecular formula: is the formula that shows the

actual number of each kind of atom in a molecule

• In order to determine the molecular formula of a

molecule we need to have the molecular weight,
which is determined by mass spectrometry

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 Exercise 1/tutorial qns
1. Combustion of 6.51 mg of a compound gave 20.47 mg of carbon
dioxide and 8.36 mg of water. The molecular weight was found
to be 84. Calculate:
a) percentage composition
b) empirical formula
c) molecular formula of the compound
2. A liquid of molecular weight 60 and a pH of 3.5 was found to
contain 40.0% carbon and 6.7% hydrogen.
What is the molecular formula of the compound?
3. Elemental analysis of an unknown compound gave the following
results : C : 54.53%, H : 9.15%, O: 36.32%, Molecular weight: 88.
Calculate :
i) the empirical formula
ii) the molecular formula
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4. Elemental analysis of a mixture of isomeric
compounds gave the following results: C: 32.2%; H:
3.6% and Cl: 63.8%. The molecular weight was
determined and found to be equal to 111. Calculate:
i) the empirical
ii) the molecular formula of the compound
5. Show how hydridization leads to the formation of the
following compounds
• Methane
• Ethene
• Acetylene
• Carbon dioxide
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