Distinguishing alcohols from carboxylic acids
What Distinguishing alcohols from carboxylic acids means in Chemistry A-Level, as defined for OCR.
Definition of Distinguishing alcohols from carboxylic acids
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Reference: OCR
A broad absorption around 3200–3600 cm⁻¹ indicates an alcohol O–H bond, whereas a very broad absorption around 2500–3300 cm⁻¹ indicates the O–H of a carboxylic acid, often with a C=O near 1680–1750 cm⁻¹.
Topics that use Distinguishing alcohols from carboxylic acids
- Analytical techniques (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- Absorption and re-emission of infrared radiation
- Absorption of infrared radiation
- Absorption of infrared radiation by bond vibrations
- Bond stretching and bending
- Broad peak shape caused by hydrogen bonding
- Change in dipole moment
- Changes to energy usage
- characteristic absorption bands
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