Structure & Reactivity
Infrared Spectroscopy
IR2. Hydrocarbon spectra
All organic and biological compounds contain carbon and hydrogen, usually with various other elements as well. Hydrocarbons are compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen, but no other types of atoms. Since all organic compounds contain carbon and hydrogen, looking at hydrocarbon spectra will tell us what peaks are due to the basic C&H part of these molecules. It is sometimes useful to think of the C&H part of a molecule as the basic skeleton or scaffolding used to construct the molecule. The other atoms often form more interesting and active features, like the doors, windows and lights on a building.
The simplest hydrocarbons contain only single bonds between their carbons, and no double or triple bonds. These hydrocarbons are variously referred to as saturated hydrocarbons, paraffins or alkanes. Examples of alkanes include hexane and nonane. (You can take a look at the Glossary to see what these names tell you about the structure.)
Look at the IR spectrum of hexane. You should see:
Figure IR2.1. IR spectrum of hexane.1
If you look at an IR spectrum of any other alkane, you will also see peaks at about 2900 and 1500 cm-1. The IR spectra of many organic compounds will show these peaks because the compound may contain paraffinic parts in addition to parts with other elements in them.
Ref. 1. SDBSWeb : http://riodb01.ibase.aist.go.jp/sdbs/ (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Japan, 14 July 2008)
This site is written and maintained by Chris P. Schaller, Ph.D., College of Saint Benedict / Saint John's University (with contributions from other authors as noted). It is freely available for educational use.
Structure & Reactivity in Organic, Biological and Inorganic Chemistry by Chris Schaller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
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