A kinetics experiment is found in virtually all undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory texts and indeed is even common in many organic laboratory texts. Furthermore, increasing applications of various spectrophotometric methods, particularly nuclear magnetic resonance, are being made a part of the laboratory experience in both of these courses. Thus, a kinetics experiment utilizing NMR spectroscopy to obtain rate data should be particularly attractive to instructors in these laboratories.
Advantages of the ExperimentThe experiment presently discussed also offers the following advantages:1. The reactant, p-methoxyphenylacetylene, is easily synthesized from readily available starting materials.* 1 2. As little as 30 mg of compound is required per student or pair of students. 3. Other than the NMR spectrometer, the only required apparatus includes an analytical balance, syringe, NMR tube in which the entire reaction is conducted, and a temperature controlled water bath (optional). 4. The reaction involved, the hydration of an alkyne, is simple and should be known to all students who would be conducting the experiment. 5. The experiment gives reproducible data from which a rate expression is easily extracted which is consistent with the accepted mechanism of the reaction.6. The reaction is conveniently run at elevated temperatures of one's choosing and thereby permits the calculation of the energy of activation for the reaction.