Discussion: Synthesis of Cyclohexene via Dehydration of Cyclohexanol

In this lab cyclohexene was synthesized via E-1 elimination through the combination of cyclohexanol and phosphoric acid. It was purified via dehydration and this led to a percent yield of 49.9% . The products were identified as cyclohexene and water using infrared spectroscopy (IR) which is the analysis of infrared light interacting with a molecule and it measures absorption, emission, and reflection in a sample. The infrared spectroscopy did not produce clear peaks due to the fact that the sample was a mixture of water and cyclohexene, but the measured peaks were 3850.00, 2375.32, 1505.00, 650.50 Transmittance. This means that the water was not fully dehydrated because these numbers do not all match up with cyclohexene.