Question

Diethyl ether is a commonly used solvent for GC analyses because of its low boiling point. In this experiment, why was heptane used as the solvent instead? a. Diethyl ether will react with the alkenes that were formed in the experiment. b. Diethyl ether has a similar boiling point to that of the product. c. Heptane will not evaporate as fast as diethyl ether will. d. Heptane has a lower boiling point than that of diethyl ether.

Answer 1

Heptane was used as the solvent instead of diethyl ether because it has a lower boiling point, does not react with the alkenes formed in the experiment, and does not evaporate as fast.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this experiment, heptane was used as the solvent instead of diethyl ether for several reasons:

1. Heptane has a lower boiling point than that of diethyl ether. This means that it will evaporate at a slower rate, allowing for better separation and detection of the analytes in the gas chromatography analysis.
2. Diethyl ether will react with the alkenes that are formed in the experiment. This can lead to the formation of unwanted by-products and inaccurate results.
3. Heptane does not evaporate as fast as diethyl ether, which can be advantageous in GC analyses where longer retention times are desired.

Answer 2

A. Diethyl ether will react with the alkenes that were formed in the experiment.

Step-by-step explanation:

Ethers such as diethyl ether dissolve a wide range of polar and nonpolar organic compounds. Nonpolar compounds are generally more soluble in diethyl ether than alcohols because ethers do not have a hydrogen bonding network that must be broken up to dissolve the solute.