Saturday 17th March 2012

FRIDAY 16TH MARCH 201212:01 PM GMT4 SUBSTANCESPROPAN-1-OLPROPANONEPROPANALPROPANOIC ACIDTHE FATE OF THE FREE WORLD RESTS UPON THEIR IDENTIFICATIONArmed with a mass and infrared spectrometer, the government desperately tries to identify the 4 substances. Time is running outIn a last ditch attempt they call in their analytical expertRelatively atomic MattInitially he identifies the compounds displayed formulae, using their systematic names to identify their functional groups

His first analysisPropan-1-ol: 1-ol suffix is indicative of a hydroxyl functional group attached to carbon 1, present in primary alcohols.Propanone: -one suffix indicates compound is a ketone, having a C=O bond to a secondary or tertiary carbon atom.Propanal: name suggests three carbon aldehyde,therefore C=O bond on a primary carbon atom.Propanoic acid: -anoic acid suffix indicates COOH functional group, present in carboxylic acids.Propan-1-ol

Propanone

Propanal

Propanoic acid-OH group on carbon 1C=O bond on secondary carbonC=O bond on primary carbonC=O bond on primary carbonOH group on same carbon (COOH group)alcoholketonealdehydecarboxylic acid

Now that the compounds structures are known, RAM can match the infrared spectra to the sample molecules. He first requires an OCR datasheet

IR SPECTRA RESULTSPROPAN-1-OL

PROPANONE

PROPANAL

PROPANOIC ACID

FINALLY RAM MUST CONDUCT A MASS SPECTROMETRY TEST. IN THIS TEST THE SAMPLES ARE BOMBARDED WITH AN ELECTRON GUN THEN SMASHED INTO AN ION DETECTOR

THANKS TO THE FAST IDENTIFICATION OF THE 4 SUBSTANCES BY RELATIVELY ATOMIC MATT, THE FREE WORLD REMAINS FREEUNTIL NEXT TIME