Chemistry UNIT 4: Identification of an Organic Compound

In this area of study students will learn the principles and applications of using analytical techniques and instrumentation to analyse organic compounds. They will apply their knowledge to a forensic drug analysis, to identify and quantitate an unknown organic compound seized by police in relation to illicit drug manufacturing.  

Introduction

In this program students will learn the principles and applications of using analytical techniques and instrumentation to analyse organic compounds. They will then use gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS), infrared spectroscopy (IR), carbon-13 and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to identify an unknown organic compound seized during a police drug raid on an illicit drug manufacturing laboratory. Students will then use high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine the concentration of an organic compound. 

Program Overview

Students will investigate the application of spectroscopic techniques for the identification of organic compounds by using GGMS and IR instrumentation and interpreting 1H and C13 NMR spectra.  Students will then use their knowledge to identify an unknown organic compound seized by police in relation to illicit drug manufacturing by performing experiments using GCMS and IR instrumentation and interpreting H1 and C13 NMR spectra. Students will then prepare a set of standard solutions over a concentration range and analyse them using HPLC. They will construct a calibration curve which they will then use to determine the concentration of an organic compound. 

Students will actively use:

• GC-MS
• FT-IR
• HPLC

Curriculum Focus

UNIT 4 VCE Chemistry: AOS 1 – Outcome 1: How can the diversity of carbon compounds be explained and categorised?

This program will address the analysis of organic compounds by covering the following study design dot points: 

• the principles and applications of mass spectroscopy (MS) 
• the principles and applications of infrared spectroscopy (IR) 

• the principles and applications of proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) 
• determination of the structures of simple organic compounds using a combination of mass spectrometry (MS), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) (limited to data analysis) 
• the principles of chromatography including use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and construction and use of a calibration curve to determine the concentration of an organic compound in a solution 

VCE Chemistry Unit 4 – AOS 3: Outcome 3: Practical Investigation 

This program will address following study design dot points: 

• the characteristics of scientific research methodologies and techniques of primary qualitative and quantitative data collection relevant to the selected investigation: volumetric analysis and instrumental analysis 

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