21.3: Spectroscopy of Carboxylic Acids
- Page ID
- 45921
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The carboxyl group is associated with two characteristic infrared stretching absorptions which change markedly with hydrogen bonding. The spectrum of a CCl4 solution of propionic acid (propanoic acid), shown below, is illustrative. Carboxylic acids exist predominantly as hydrogen bonded dimers in condensed phases. The O-H stretching absorption for such dimers is very strong and broad, extending from 2500 to 3300 cm-1.
This absorption overlaps the sharper C-H stretching peaks, which may be seen extending beyond the O-H envelope at 2990, 2950 and 2870 cm-1. The smaller peaks protruding near 2655 and 2560 are characteristic of the dimer. In ether solvents a sharper hydrogen bonded monomer absorption near 3500 cm-1 is observed, due to competition of the ether oxygen as a hydrogen bond acceptor. The carbonyl stretching frequency of the dimer is found near 1710 cm-1, but is increased by 25 cm-1 or more in the monomeric state. Other characteristic stretching and bending absorptions are marked in the spectrum.
NMR
The combination of anisotropy and electronegativity causes the O-H hydrogen in a carboxylic acid to be very deshielded.
Exercise
2. Sample W is a reactant for a wide range of biochemical processes. Sample X was isolated from vanilla beans. Elemental analysis indicated the compounds are structural isomers with the composition: 54.52% C, 9.16% H and 36.32% O. The IR spectrum for each compound showed a broad absorption from 3500 - 2500 cm-1 and a strong band near 1710 cm-1. The 1H NMR is being serviced, so only the 13C NMR spectra shown below were available.
Name and draw the bond-line structures for Samples W and X and correlate the 13C NMR spectral signals to their respective compounds.
Contributors and Attributions
William Reusch, Professor Emeritus (Michigan State U.), Virtual Textbook of Organic Chemistry
Prof. Steven Farmer (Sonoma State University)