Identification of Cobalt Amine Halide Complex

Shubh Patel

Dr. Mariani

Chem1212k

Fall 2022
Name: _Shubh, Patel_

Synthesis Number: __6__

Summary of Results

Color of synthesized compound: _____Orange_____

Average percent cobalt: _____18.45%____

Average percent ammonia: ______33.01%______

Halide in complex: ___Chlorine_____

Average percent halide: ___51.09%___

Identity of cobalt complex: ____Hexamminecobalt(III) chloride [Co(NH3)6]Cl3______

Introduction:

The objective of this comprehensive lab was to determine and identify the specific chemical compound

of a cobalt amine halide complex. The cobalt amine halide complex is a unique compound which contains one

main central atom which is bonded to different ligands. Various experiments were conducted throughout this lab

to help determine the identity of the metal complex. First, a metal complex was synthesized to obtain our metal

complex for further experiments. To obtain the precise cobalt compound, synthesis procedure six was used. To

determine the amount of percent halide present in the complex, a solution of silver nitrate(AgNO3) was used to

help collect the halide from the complex. The reason why silver nitrate is used is because the Ag+ will

disassociate from the NO3 in water and will act as an oxidizing agent, while the halide 3Cl- will act as a

reducing agent, allowing the two to combine into a solid precipitate.

The objective of creating an exact HCl concentration was to ensure that the HCl had a molarity of .3M

to be used in the Ammonia(NH3) experiment. The .3M HCl is titrated against a solution of the known number

of THAM and a unique indicator used for the titration process. The titration process aims to find the solution’s

concentration and determine an equivalence point. The purpose of conducting the percent NH3 was to

determine the amount of Ammonia that was present in the complex. Further, an aqueous solution from the

complex was heated to obtain an amine and was separated in a boric acid solution. Once the boric acid and NH3

were obtained, the HCl was titrated against the solution to determine the specific amount of amine present in the

metal complex.

The final experiment of determining the metal complex was the percent cobalt. When observing the

percentage of cobalt within the complex, it is evident that the metal complex is an orange color. However, to

determine the amount of cobalt in the complex, a spectrophotometer is used to provide the specific amount of

absorbance in the complex. Furthermore, the metal complex will absorb(light intensity) energy within a visible

portion through the electromagnetic spectrum, which displays the color of the complex. Once the

spectrophotometer test has been completed, the molar absorption coefficient(ε) and concentration(c) are used to

calculate the final percent of cobalt obtained in the cobalt amine halide complex.
Section 1: Percent Halide:

Results

Table 1: % Halide Data

Mass of synthesis(g) Mass of precipitate(g) %Halide in Synthesis

sample trial

Trial 1 0.2089g 0.3532g 41.81%

Trial 2 0.2098g 0.5122g 60.37%

Average % Halide in Synthesis Sample: 51.09%

Summary of the % halide

The objective of this experiment was to separate the halide from the cobalt ammine halide complex and

determine the specified composition of the halide (Cl- or Br-) along with its percent composition. To determine

the percent composition of Cl- in the synthesis, Silver Nitrate(AgNO3) is dissolved in distilled water (DI) to

form a precipitate of a silver cation (Ag+) and the halide anion(Cl-). Furthermore, the precipitates of the silver

and halide ions combined and formed an orange compound. the color of the orange compound comes from the

amount of NH3 and the synthesized complex. However, to collect the precipitate of the solution, the Buchner

funnel is used and is weighted to determine and calculate the number of grams of the percent halide in the

compound.

Throughout the experiment, an error occurred during the second trial due to the overall mass of the

precipitate being higher compared to the first trial. The percent halide in the synthesis was significantly higher

compared to the first trial. Another error that occurred was during the filtering process and not retrieving all of

the precipitate that was present on the filter paper, which affected the percent halide.

Section 2: Percent Amine:

Results

Table 2: HCl Titration Data

Grams Moles Moles Volume used in Concentration

THAM(g) THAM(Moles) Unknown(Mole Titration(L) Unknown(M)

s)

Trial 1 1.0547 .00871 .00871 .0335 .2598

Trial 2 1.0854 .00896 .00896 .0349 .2567

Trial 3 1.0855 .00896 .00896 .0343 .2612

Average Molarity of HCl Solution: .2592M

Table 3: NH3 Titration Data

Mass of synthesis (g) Volume of HCl (L) % NH3 in synthesis

Trial 1 .2513 .0199 34.89%

Trial 2 .2475 .020 35.59%

Trial 3 .2439 .0158 28.55%

Average % NH3 in Synthesis Compound: 33.01%

Summary of the % NH3

The objective of this experiment was to determine the amount of amine Ammonia(NH3) in the metal

complex. The purpose of collecting the Ammonia(NH3) was to ensure we titrated the HCl against the THAM to

ensure a molar concentration of .3M. Furthermore, the Hydrochloric acid(HCl) solution will be titrated against

the Ammonia to determine the concentration of ammonia gas in the metal complex. Thereafter, the cobalt amine
halide complex is heated through the hot plate and distillation apparatus to evaporate the NH3 gas. Next, the

NH3 is obtained in liquid condensation trapped in a boric acid solution being ready for titration. The HCl is

titrated into the boric acid and NH3 solution until a light green-blue endpoint is reached. Once the endpoint is

reached, the moles of NH3 and HCl are supposed to be equal. Therefore, the volume of HCl can be used to find

the grams of NH3. The percentage is calculated using the grams of synthesis.

Throughout this experiment, an error that occurred was when the distillation apparatus was not tightly

trapped for the NH3 gas to condense, affecting the overall pressure. This process could have altered the overall

results of calculating the amine percentage.

Section 3: Percent Cobalt:

Results

Table 4: % Cobalt Data

Mass of Absorbance ε Value λ Max Grams Co(g) % Cobalt in

Synthesis(g) Sample Trial

Trial 1 .1501g .315 58 475nM .0293 19.51%

Trial 2 .1501g .281 58 475nM .0261 17.38%

Average % Cobalt in Synthesis Sample: 18.45%

Summary of the % Co

This experiment was to determine the specific amount of percent cobalt found in the metal complex.

However, in order to determine the percent cobalt, an aqueous solution was developed containing hydrochloric

acid(HCl) and the metal complex. The solution was transferred into a curevette and placed in the
spectrometer(Spec 20), which measures the light absorbance of the solution. Further, the utilization of the

spectrometer was used to help determine a precise molar concentration amount of cobalt in the complex. Once

the spectrometer test was complete, the absorbance and ε values were given to calculate the grams of Cobalt and

the overall percentage of cobalt in the complex as well. Throughout this experiment, no significant errors

occurred during the process.

Section 6: Conclusion

After analyzing various experiments, the cobalt amine halide complex was tested to determine each

compound’s percentage. The first experiment of creating the synthesis was weighted around 12.7501g. The

percent halide experiment had consisted of determining how much percent chloride(Cl-) was present in the

compound. After, calculating the percent chloride, the compound was made up of 51.09% chloride. A

condensed amount of the amine was obtained to determine the amount of ammonia(NH3), the compound was

33.01%. The final experiment consisted of determining the compound’s percentage of cobalt through the

spectrophotometer. After receiving and calculating the data from the spectrophotometer test, the percent cobalt

of the compound was 18.45%. However, after reviewing the percentages of the compounds, the data which has

been collected does not accurately reflect to the values given in the compound graph. Additionally, after

calculating the percent yield of the cobalt compound was approximately 79.9%. A major factor that has affected

the overall compound was the halide experiment due to the second trial (60.37%) error of having an excess of

precipitate than the first trial and the average being 51.09%. However, if the first trial of percent halide(41.81%)

was used, then a more reasonable average could be acceptable but not precise. During the process of the NH3

experiment, the first two trials were fairly close of 34.89% & 35.59% which could have given a more accurate

average compared to the third trial of 28.55%. To determine the empircial formula, the percentages of each

compound we converted to grams to find the moles of each synthesized compound. Each value was divided by

the smallest number of moles to determine the compounds coefficient. Finally, after calculating the empirical

formula of the compounds, the percentages shows that the empirical formula of the synthesized cobalt amine
halide compound was Cl-(4.6), NH3(6.2), Co(1). Therefore, the cobalt amine halide compound is

[Co(NH3)6]Cl3.