Synthesis is unique to chemistry. Chemists make compounds, separate them from their reaction mixtures, and then determine their purity. These synthetic procedures had their origins in alchemy and, in their incarnation in modern industry, they have resulted in drugs and materials that have increased our lifetimes and have made our lives more enjoyable. Appropriate synthetic projects for the introductory laboratory should demonstrate some of the characteristics of the synthetic process:1. the same compound can be made by a number of different synthetic methods, 2. that the separation of the compound depends upon the method of preparation, and 3. that some methods of analysis are more appropriate than others for some compounds.
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