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Topic: Having trouble identifying unknown compound  (Read 2694 times)

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Offline SirFox

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Having trouble identifying unknown compound
« on: March 25, 2009, 07:53:00 PM »
I have an unknown mixture of two organic compounds.  Here is some initial info on the mixture:

Color-light tan color
Smell-reminds me of naphthalene, but not exactly
Solubiliy:
Water-insoluble
diethyl ether-Apparently one of the compounds dissolves, insoluble clear crystals are left behind.
NaOH-Partially soluble
HCl-Partially soluble
NaHCO3-Partially soluble, lots of bubbling
Con. H2SO4-Partially soluble, turns orange upon addition

The bubbling upon addition to NaHCO3 leads me to believe that one of the unknowns is a COOH, but I'm not positive that it is dissolving in NaOH, which is contradictory.  Also, after about 10 minutes, almost all of my mixture (just a few small crystals left) was dissolved my the concentrated H2SO4, leading me to further doubt the COOH.  Finally, on a whim I did a ferric nitrate test to test for an alcohol or phenol, the test was negative, but it bubbled similar to the bubbling seen with NaHCO3.  Any ideas what is going on here?

Offline frenchy

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Re: Having trouble identifying unknown compound
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2009, 04:01:54 AM »
Do you know what the reaction was meant to be?
PhD student in synthetic Inorganic and Supramolecular chemistry.

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