Organic Chemistry Lab Survival Manual

James W. Zubrick9780471855194, 0471855197

The basic techniques in the organic chemistry laboratory are presented in this book with the emphasis on doing the work correctly the first time. To this end, examples of what can go wrong are presented with admonishments, often bordering on the outrageous, to forestall the most common of errors. Complicated operations, such as distillation and extraction, are dealt with in a straightforward fashion, both in the explanations and in the sequential procedures. In this edition, the sections on notebooks and handbooks have been expanded to include typical notebook pages and actual handbook entries along with interpretation. There are new notes on cleaning and drying glassware, and how to find a good recrystallization solvent. Washing has been given the same importance as extraction, and a few more trouble spots, eg taking the pH of an organic layer, have been smoothed. There are additional instructions on steam distillation using external sources of steam. Simple manometers, coping with air leaks, and the correct use of a pressure-temperature nomograph enhance the section on vacuum distillation. Refractometry has been added, as well as sections on the theory of extraction and distillation, including azeotropes and azeotropic distillation, and the application of the Clausius-Clapyron equation as a bridge for getting from Raoult’s Law (pressure and mole fraction) to the phase diagram (temperature and mole fraction).