Question

the reaction progress was not tracked in experiment 5 was not tracked. explain briefly (2-3 sentences maximum) why tlc would not have been an effective tool in determining whether the reaction was complete.

Answer 1

TLC may not effectively track reaction progress if the reactants and products have similar polarities or if the components are volatile, gaseous, or react with the TLC material, leading to unreliable resolution on the TLC plate.

Step-by-step explanation:

TLC, or thin-layer chromatography, might not be an effective tool to track reaction progress in experiment 5 for a few reasons. If the reactants and products do not differ significantly in polarity, they would not resolve well on a TLC plate, making it difficult to determine when the reaction has completed. Additionally, if the reaction components are volatile, gaseous, or react with the TLC material, this would prevent reliable monitoring of the reaction progress using TLC.