Question

what kind of information about a compound do you get from melting point? Thin layer chromatography? How could these be useful in assessing the product of a chemical reaction?

Answer 1

MELTING POINT melting point is the temperature at which the chemical compound start melting. Every compound has specific melting point. So melting point is used to determine the product and purity of the product in the chemical reaction . while assessing the product of the chemical reaction we determine the melting point first if it suits the melting point of the product required, we will primarily confirm that reaction is going in correct process and we are getting the correct product.

if there is a decrease in melting point we can confirm that there is impurity in the product obtained.

THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY In TLC the stationary phase is solid and the mobile phase is liquid. Different compounds have different absorption properties and move with different speed when applied on the TLC plate.  

As different chemical compounds have different mobility on TLC they have different Rf values [ Rf valule is defined as the mobility of the compound to that of mobile phase] that means each compound have a specific Rf values.

while assessing the product of the chemical reaction if the Rf value of the obtained product matches the predetermined Rf value of the product we will confirm the reaction is going in the correct process and we are getting the correct product