Biodiesel Gas Chromatography and Synthesis of Nylon and Slime University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign KEYWORDS Slime Nylon Biodiesel Gas Chromatography ABSTRACT The purpose of this lab was to synthesize nylon from sybacyl chloride and 1 6 hexanediamine and slime from a polyvinyl alcohol and borax Gas chromatography was also preformed on a premade biodiesel sample in order to determine its quality Introduction The goal of this lab is to produce both nylon and slime Both of which are composed of polymers Polymers are just big molecules composed of repeating structural parts Thos structural parts are called monomers Polymers are present in a variety of different places and have various different uses and properties Their role varies from synthetic plastics to biopolymers which are needed for basic life Polymers are broken down into two groups homopolymers and copolymers As implied by the name homopolymers are composed of a chain of the same type of monomers Copolymers are comprised of two or more monomers and are further divided into different types of copolymers Usually sites with multiple bonds or non carbons are locations where reactivity in organic molecules occurs In the laboratory there are two different ways to synthesize polymers in general step growth polymerization and chain growth polymerization Step growth polymerization is the addition of a single monomer at a time On the other hand chain growth polymerization is the addition of chains of monomers at the same time to form a polymer This is not the only way to think about the formation of polymers Another way is to classify polymer formations as polycondensations and polyadditions In polycondensations a small molcule by product is produced like water In polyadditions no by product is made These laboratory techniques produce polymers that provide a broad range of benefits to people One benefit that has been highlighted by a study by Kevin Baird is the use of nylon to extend the life time of socks He preformed wear trials with over 30 men and found that by using 20 nylon in the socks they were able to greatly decrease shrinking of the socks as well as the number of holes that appeared in a given time period This resulted in socks that lasted up to three times longer 1 Although polymers are utilized in a variety of different ways and are beneficial to society they are presenting a very unique problem for scientists Polymers have a resistance to biodegrading and decomposing This is a problem because polymers have become so common place They are often used in packaging and end up in landfills Polymer products are now getting backed up in landfills and people are looking toward chemical ingenuity for a solution Materials and Methods Nylon Into a 100 mL beaker 20 mL of aqueous basic hexane diamine solution was poured While the beaker was tilted 20 mL of sebacyl chloride solution was poured down the inside wall of the beaker The polymer film was grabbed using a glass rod and pulled out of the beaker until the desired amount was taken out The remaining monomers were combined by swirling the beaker A UV lamp was shone of the beaker contents and the nylons strand Slime Flourescein was added to 50 mL of PVA The resulting solution was then poured into 10 mL of borax and slime was formed Biodiesel Into a clean dry test tube 1 mL of DI H2O was measured To the water 2 mL of heptane was added To the water heptane mix 4 drops of biodiesel was added This solution was covered and was shaken vigorously The solution was allowed to separate for a few minutes The top layer was pipetted off into a clean dry test tube A small portion of sodium sulfate was added to the solution In a dry test tub 2 drops of solution was place with 2 mL of heptane Three micro liters were placed into a gas chromatography machine The results were saved Results Table 1 Qualitative Nylon Observations Hexadiammine Solution Sebacyl Chloride Upon Addition Middle layer removed Pink Red Clear 3 layers Nylon formed formed Continually Table 2 Qualitative Slime Observations PVA Flourescein Upon Addition of two Added Borax Foggy Colorless Clear Neon Yellow Neon with Figure 2 The nylon layer that formed was pulled out using a glass rod Slimy Texture FIGURES Figure 3 The remaining reagents were mixed to form nylon Figure 1 Slime was produced after the addition of borax Graph 1 Gas Chromatography Results Graph 2 Gas Chromatography 2 Standard Results Discussion In this reaction the carboxylic acid groups of the polyvinyl acid react with the hydroxide groups to form slime and water Nylon and Slime Equation 2 This lab has two purposes to synthesize nylon and a polymer slime and to analyze a biodiesel through the use of gas chromatography Both the slime and nylon are polymers Polymers are simply large molecules made out of repeating parts called monomers The polymerization that occurs to form nylon can be considered a chain growth polymerization as well as a condensation reaction since a byproduct is made That byproduct is HCl in this case The reason that diamine is present in excess is because it reacts with the HCl The specific nylon that is made in this lab is nylon6 10 It is named this due to the lengths of the carbons chains in its monomers The nylon reaction that occurs is displayed below Equation 1 This is also considered an interfacial reaction due to the fact that the reaction only occurred at the interface of the two solu tions In the slime reaction first a solution was made of polyvinyl alcohol and fluorescein This is why the slime fluoresced when put under UV radiation The next step was to add of borax Borax is sodium borate Na3BO3 The borax actually dissolves to form boric acid H3BO3 Boric acid will accept a hydroxide OH from water Then the condensation reaction occurs Gas Chromatography In this lab Gas Chromatography was done on a sample of biodiesel to test its purity Gas chromatography is an analytical way of separating a solution into its components through vaporization without decomposition In gas chromatography a liquid or gaseous analyte is injected into the head of the column A carrier gas which is usually an inert or unreactive gas is pushed through the column which sweeps the components across the column at their own rate The rate depends on the adsorption of the component to the column As the components progress at their own rate along the column they separate out A detector is used to determine what time and in what amount different components of the