IChO 1973 · Theory problem 6

Hydration of a mixture of two homologous hydrocarbons

A gaseous mixture containing two neighbour hydrocarbons of the same homologous series was 14.4 times as dense as hydrogen. This mixture with a volume of 16.8 dm³ was hydrated and 350 g of the solution were obtained when the products of hydration were absorbed in water. Ten grams of this solution were taken and heated in the presence of silver(I) oxide which was prepared from 70 cm³ of a 1 N silver(I) nitrate solution. Unreacted \(\ce{Ag2O}\) was dissolved in an aqueous ammonia solution and a residual precipitate was filtered off. The filtrate was acidified with nitric acid and addition of an excess of sodium bromide to it resulted in 9.4 g of a precipitate.

When the mixture of the hydrocarbons that remained unreacted, was mixed with a 50 % excess of hydrogen and transmitted above a heated Pt-catalyst, its resulting volume decreased to 11.2 dm³. Volumes of gases were measured in STP conditions.

Problems:

6.1 What hydrocarbons were in the starting mixture?

6.2 Write chemical equations for the above mentioned reactions.

6.3 Calculate the composition of the starting mixture in % by volume.

6.4 How much (in %) of each hydrocarbon was hydrated?

Official English text of the problem.

Answers

  • 6.1 Ethyne (acetylene), \(\ce{C2H2}\), C#C, and propyne (methylacetylene), \(\ce{C3H4}\), CC#C.

  • 6.2 The balanced equations are listed below; the analytical reactions are written in net ionic form. \[ \begin{aligned} &\ce{C2H2 + H2O -> CH3CHO}\\ &\ce{C3H4 + H2O -> CH3COCH3}\\ &\ce{2Ag+ + 2OH- -> Ag2O(s) + H2O}\\ &\ce{CH3CHO + Ag2O(s) -> CH3COOH + 2Ag(s)}\\ &\ce{Ag2O(s) + 4NH3 + H2O <=> 2[Ag(NH3)2]+ + 2OH-}\\ &\ce{[Ag(NH3)2]+ + 2H+ -> Ag+ + 2NH4+}\\ &\ce{NH3 + H+ -> NH4+}\\ &\ce{OH- + H+ -> H2O}\\ &\ce{Ag+ + Br- -> AgBr(s)}\\ &\ce{C2H2 + 2H2 ->[Pt] C2H6}\\ &\ce{C3H4 + 2H2 ->[Pt] C3H8} \end{aligned} \]

  • 6.3 The starting mixture contained 80.0% ethyne and 20.0% propyne by volume.

  • 6.4 58.3% of the ethyne and 100% of the propyne were hydrated.

Solution

Use the conventional rounded atomic masses appropriate to these data: \[ A_r(\mathrm H)=1,\quad A_r(\mathrm C)=12,\quad A_r(\mathrm{Ag})=108,\quad A_r(\mathrm{Br})=80, \] and the STP molar gas volume \[ V_m=22.4\ \mathrm{dm^3\,mol^{-1}}. \]

6.1 Identification of the hydrocarbons

The relative density with respect to hydrogen, [H][H], gives the mixture’s mean molar mass: \[ \overline M=14.4\,M(\ce{H2}) =14.4(2.00)=28.8\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}. \]

The silver experiment establishes that a hydration product reduces silver(I). Initially there were \(0.070\ \mathrm{mol}\) of silver(I), whereas the final silver bromide precipitate accounts for only \[ \frac{9.4\ \mathrm g}{188\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}} =0.050\ \mathrm{mol}. \] The difference represents silver reduced to the metal.

Ordinary alkene hydration produces alcohols, which do not give this aldehyde oxidation reaction. In ordinary alkyne hydration, ethyne produces ethanal (acetaldehyde), CC=O, an aldehyde; higher alkynes produce ketones. Thus ethyne must be present.

Its neighbouring member in the same homologous series is propyne. Their molar masses, \[ M(\ce{C2H2})=26.0\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}, \qquad M(\ce{C3H4})=40.0\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}, \] bracket the observed mean of \(28.8\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}\), as required.

6.2 Explanation of the reactions

The balanced equations are given in Answers 6.2.

Hydration of ethyne gives ethanal, while hydration of propyne gives propanone (acetone), CC(=O)C. In the usual acid-catalysed alkyne hydration, addition of water is followed by enol–carbonyl tautomerization.

Ethanal is oxidized to ethanoic acid (acetic acid), CC(=O)O. Each mole of ethanal reduces one mole of silver(I) oxide, producing two moles of metallic silver. Propanone does not undergo this aldehyde oxidation.

Silver(I) oxide can be prepared by adding hydroxide to the silver(I) nitrate solution. After oxidation, ammonia dissolves the remaining oxide by forming the soluble diamminesilver(I) ion, [NH3]->[Ag+]<-[NH3]. This ion has linear coordination around silver; the SMILES specifies the donor bonds but does not establish that geometry. Metallic silver remains as the precipitate that is filtered off.

Acidification with nitric acid, O=[N+]([O-])O, protonates ammonia and destroys the silver–ammonia complex. Addition of sodium bromide, [Na+].[Br-], then precipitates the remaining silver(I) as silver bromide.

The other molecular and ionic species in the analytical equations are:

Species SMILES
Water O
Ammonia N
Silver(I) ion [Ag+]
Hydroxide ion [OH-]
Hydrogen ion, used as aqueous acid–base shorthand [H+]
Ammonium ion [NH4+]
Bromide ion [Br-]
Silver(I) oxide, ionic formula unit [Ag+].[O-2].[Ag+]
Silver bromide, ionic formula unit [Ag+].[Br-]

The formula-unit SMILES for the solids do not represent their crystal lattices.

Complete hydrogenation over heated platinum gives ethane, CC, from ethyne and propane, CCC, from propyne. Each alkyne requires two moles of hydrogen per mole. The calculation in 6.4 will show that only ethyne actually remains for this stage.

6.3 Composition of the starting mixture

Let \(x\) be the mole fraction of ethyne. For gases measured under the same conditions, mole fraction equals volume fraction. Therefore, \[ 26.0x+40.0(1-x)=28.8, \] so \[ x=\frac{40.0-28.8}{40.0-26.0}=0.800. \]

Hence the volume composition is \[ \boxed{80.0\%\ \text{ethyne},\qquad 20.0\%\ \text{propyne}.} \]

The initial total amount was \[ n_0=\frac{16.8\ \mathrm{dm^3}} {22.4\ \mathrm{dm^3\,mol^{-1}}} =0.750\ \mathrm{mol}. \] Thus, \[ n_0(\ce{C2H2})=0.800(0.750)=0.600\ \mathrm{mol}, \] \[ n_0(\ce{C3H4})=0.200(0.750)=0.150\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

6.4 Percentage of each hydrocarbon hydrated

For silver(I) nitrate, [Ag+].[O-][N+](=O)[O-], one mole supplies one equivalent of silver(I), so the \(1\ \mathrm N\) solution contains \(1\ \mathrm{mol\,dm^{-3}}\) of silver(I). The initial amount of silver in the aliquot experiment was therefore \[ n_{\mathrm{Ag,initial}} =(0.070\ \mathrm{dm^3})(1\ \mathrm{mol\,dm^{-3}}) =0.070\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

The unreduced silver was recovered as silver bromide: \[ n_{\mathrm{Ag,unreduced}} =\frac{9.4\ \mathrm g}{188\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}} =0.050\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

Consequently, \[ n_{\mathrm{Ag,reduced}}=0.070-0.050=0.020\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

Because one mole of ethanal produces two moles of silver, the \(10\ \mathrm g\) aliquot contained \[ n_{\text{ethanal,aliquot}}=\frac{0.020}{2} =0.010\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

The full \(350\ \mathrm g\) solution therefore contained \[ n_{\text{ethanal,total}} =0.010\left(\frac{350}{10}\right) =0.350\ \mathrm{mol}. \] Hydration produces one mole of ethanal per mole of ethyne, giving \[ n_{\text{ethyne,hydrated}}=0.350\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

Thus the percentage of ethyne hydrated was \[ \boxed{\frac{0.350}{0.600}\times100=58.3\%.} \] The amount of ethyne remaining was \[ 0.600-0.350=0.250\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

To determine propyne conversion, let \(u\) be the total number of moles of unhydrated alkynes. Complete hydrogenation requires \(2u\) moles of hydrogen. With a \(50\%\) excess, the amount added was \[ n_{\ce{H2},\mathrm{added}}=1.50(2u)=3u. \]

After hydrogenation, the gas contains \(u\) moles of alkanes and \(3u-2u=u\) moles of excess hydrogen. Its total amount is therefore \(2u\): \[ 2u=\frac{11.2\ \mathrm{dm^3}} {22.4\ \mathrm{dm^3\,mol^{-1}}} =0.500\ \mathrm{mol}, \] giving \[ u=0.250\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

This equals the amount of ethyne already known to remain. Therefore no propyne remained: \[ n_{\text{propyne,unhydrated}}=0.250-0.250=0. \] All \(0.150\ \mathrm{mol}\) of the original propyne was hydrated: \[ \boxed{\text{Propyne hydrated}=100\%.} \]

As a volume check, the final gas consists of \(0.250\ \mathrm{mol}\) of ethane and \(0.250\ \mathrm{mol}\) of hydrogen, occupying \(5.60+5.60=11.2\ \mathrm{dm^3}\) at STP.

The solution was checked against the official solution. Where this solution differs from the official solution, the official solution contains an error or a misprint.