Abstract:

Infrared spectroscopy is widely used in scientific research and industrial analysis for measuring the molecular structure and identifying the composition of compounds. The composition and microstructure of the system under study can be determined by monitoring the intensity and position of the infrared absorption peak, and the dynamics information can be further unraveled. With the development of technology, infrared spectrometers are gradually miniaturized and the measurements are simplified significantly. However, the infrared spectroscopic measurement is still not included in undergraduate physical chemistry experiment. Based on this and for the purpose of carrying out the idea of integration of research and teaching, the authors attempt to extend the innovation and entrepreneurship training program "kinetic research on azeotrope separation using ionic liquids as entrainers" to undergraduate physical chemistry, in hopes to fill the gap that the infrared spectroscopic measurement method is not integrated in the physical chemistry experiment. In this paper, methanol methyl acetate azeotropic system is selected as the research object, the understanding of whose microscopic structure could provide valuable insights for in polyvinyl alcohol industry. In addition, azeotropic system is also very important in the study of thermodynamic phase equilibrium in physical chemistry, but students usually do not have a direct and clear understanding of its microstructure at the molecular level. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the microstructure of azeotropic system by infrared spectroscopy.

Key words: Azeotrope, Infrared vibrational spectroscopy, Integration of science and education, Physical chemistry experiment