Question

An experimental technique called elemental analysis reveals that a particular antibiotic is composed of 53.827% carbon, 6.453% hydrogen, 8.968% nitrogen, 10.27% sulfur, and the rest is oxygen. What is the empirical formula of penicillin F? A) C₁₄H₂₀N₂₅O₃

B) C₅₄H₆N₉S₁₀
C) C₁₄H₂₀N₂₅O₄
D) C₅₄H₆N₉S₁₀O₂₀
E) C₅H₃O₃NSO

Answer 1

The empirical formula of penicillin F is C8HNS.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the empirical formula of penicillin F, we need to calculate the ratio of the elements in the compound. Given the percentages of each element, we can assume we have 100g of the compound. This means we have 53.827g carbon, 6.453g hydrogen, 8.968g nitrogen, and 10.27g sulfur. To find the number of moles of each element, we divide the mass by the atomic mass. The atomic masses of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur are 12.01 g/mol, 1.008 g/mol, 14.01 g/mol, and 32.07 g/mol, respectively.

Now we can find the mole ratio of the elements. We divide the number of moles of each element by the smallest number of moles to get a whole number ratio. In this case, the smallest number of moles is 6.453 moles of hydrogen. Dividing the number of moles of each element by 6.453 gives us approximately 8.34 moles of carbon, 1 mole of hydrogen, 1.39 moles of nitrogen, and 1.59 moles of sulfur.

Rounding these values to the nearest whole number gives us a ratio of approximately 8:1:1:1. This means the empirical formula of penicillin F is C8H1N1S1, which simplifies to C8HNS.