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Teaching the Chlorine Rule. Ray A. Gross, Jr. Prince George’s Community College. The 19 th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. July 31, 2006. Home of the boilermakers. The Chlorine Rule. A way to analyze the mass spectra of Br m Cl n compounds, where m and n are small numbers.
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Teaching the Chlorine Rule Ray A. Gross, Jr. Prince George’s Community College
The 19th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education July 31, 2006
The Chlorine Rule A way to analyze the mass spectra of BrmClncompounds, where m and n are small numbers. J. Chem. Educ.2004, 81, 1162-1168
What we (need to) know • The end cluster peaks for Brm compounds are always ~1:1 in intensity. • The end cluster peaks for Cln compounds are ~3:1 for Cl1, ~9:1 for Cl2, and ~3n:1 for Cln. • The number of significant cluster peaks is one more then the number of halogens, m + n.
New Idea • Bromine makes the same 1:1 contribution to the end peaks of a BrmClnspectrum that it makes to a Brm spectrum.
Which means • Differences in end-peak intensities are attributable to the number of Cl atoms only.
The Chlorine Rule • For BrmCln compounds, the intensity ratio of the leftmost to rightmost cluster peak rises with the nth power of three. • I = 3n
Conclusions • The chlorine rule provides an efficient method for determining small numbers of Br and Cl atoms in an unknown’s mass spectrum. • It complements the nitrogen rule.
Acknowledgement • SDBS Website http://www.aist.go.jp/RIODB/SDBS/cgi-bin/cre_index.cgi (accessed July 2006)