University Chemistry ›› 2023, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (11): 216-222.doi: 10.3866/PKU.DXHX202304040

• Chemistry Laboratory • Previous Articles     Next Articles

NMR Study of Keto-Enol Tautomeric Equilibrium in Acetylacetone: An Experiment for Physical Chemistry Laboratory

Liubin Feng, Jie Ouyang, Dongli An, Jianliang Ye()   

  • Received:2023-04-11 Accepted:2023-06-07 Published:2023-06-15
  • Contact: Jianliang Ye E-mail:yejl@xmu.edu.cn

Abstract:

A physical chemistry experiment involving organic chemistry, computational chemistry, and instrumental analysis is described for junior students majoring in chemistry. Keto-enol tautomerism is a fundamental concept in undergraduate organic chemistry. The keto-enol tautomeric equilibrium of acetylacetone in a series of binary solvent mixtures of deuterated chloroform and deuterated dimethyl sulfoxide with various polarities was explored using NMR spectroscopy and theoretical computations. The effect of solvent polarity on the equilibrium is discussed in combination with NMR and theoretical computation results. This experiment facilitates students' understanding of abstract concepts enables them to integrate theory with experiments and systematically analyze multiple techniques to explore chemical processes and principles.

Key words: NMR, Keto-enol tautomerism, Mixed solvent, Acetylacetone