Result:

Using Mel-Temp and gently heating benzamide gave melting point range of 125
127 and benzilic acid gave melting point range of 150 154 .
The 1:1 mixture obtained gave melting point range of 94 116 , indicating
that impurities give rise to a decreased and larger range of melting point. The literature
melting point range of benzamide is 125 128 and for benzilic acid its 149
151 . The unknown organic compound 73 was heated and the melting point
range obtained was 140 142 , by looking up at the at the data table, the
experimental melting point range was close to two compounds: o-chlorobenzoic and
anthranilic acid. The unknown 73 had similar physical properties to o-chlorobenzoic acid:
white, powdery form, whereas anthranilic acid had yellow, powdery form. To further
ensure the accuracy of the unknown compound, 1:1 mixture of the unknown and ochlorobenzoic acid was created and heated gently in Mel-Temp that gave rise to the same
melting temperature point as the unknown alone. The literature melting point temperature
of o-chlorobenzoic is 140 142 that is almost the same as the experimental
value. By obtaining the melting point temperature, the identity of the unknown organic
was concluded as o-chlorobenzoic and purity of known organic compounds was
determined by creating the 1:1 mixture that gave low melting temperature range than the
melting temperature range of both the compounds.
The experimental refractive index of butyl acetate at 23.6 was 1.3914 that is converted
to 20 of 1.3930 that is close to the literature value of 20 of 1.3941. The refractive
index of unknown 73 liquid organic compound at 23.6 was 1.3738 that is converted to
20 of 1.3754. By looking up at the list of refractive index of organic compounds, the
unknown 73 is close to hexane that has literature value of 20 of 1.3750. Thus, by
measuring the refractive index we were able to determine the identity of the unknown
organic compound to be hexane.
There are various sources of error during the experiment:
Overheating the solid organic compounds when measuring the melting
temperature thus missing the instant the organic solid compound turns to liquid
leading to inaccurate melting point temperature being recorded.
Contamination present in the capillary tube that lowers melting point range.
When measuring the refractive index, the prism of Abb refractormeter might
have not been cleaned leading to impurities present in the organic liquid that
significantly change the refractive index being measured.
The refractive index was not recorded on time and the organic liquid evaporated
leading to incorrect measurement.
Chromatic adjustment was not made correctly when looking into the Abb
refractometer.
Conclusion:
The aim of the experiment was met by determining the purity of known organic
compounds, identifying unknown 73 solid as o-chlorobenzoic by measuring the melting
point temperature of the solid and unknown 73 liquid as hexane by calculating refractive
index. Melting point and refractive index determination is essential in qualitative analysis
of organic compounds. The main source of error is mainly due to human error that can be

avoided by cleaning apparatus prior to starting the experiment, keeping close eye to
organic solids being melted, gently heating the organic solids instead of applying large
power voltage, cleaning prism of the Abb refractormeter with methanol prior to adding
the liquid organic compound, and repeating experiment if melting point range is larger
than five degrees from the literature value.