Cyclohexanol

In the experiment run, cyclohexanol was dehydrated using phosphoric acid and heat as catalysts to form the produce cyclohexene and produced a 40% yield.  The dehydration reaction utilizes 1 mole of the alcohol to produce 1 mole of the alkene.  To determine the purity of the product, infrared spectrometry and gas chromatography was used.  If the product was pure, there would be peaks at around 3000-27000 cm-1 which indicate a carbon bonded to a hydrogen.  In addition, there will be a peak at about 1700 cm-1 indicating the carbon double bonded to another carbon.  In the IR, both these trends were seen.  Importantly, there was no peaks in the stretch before the 3000-27000 cm-1 band which would have indicated the presence of an alcohol group.  The alcohol is found in the starting material and a sign of a pure product and complete reaction would be its removal in the product.  In gas chromatography, the product was injected into the column where it is heated and is pushed through the column with helium.  The lower boiling product will move quicker through the column and have a longer retention time.  In the results of the gas chromatography of the sample, only one peak was found indicated a single product as 100% of the area of the results can be found under the curve indicating a pure product.  Based on the results testing the purity of the cyclohexene product, the sample is pure.