What is the empirical formula of a purified drug sample that is 74.27% C, 7.79% H, 12.99% N, and 4.95% O?
I assume I have 100g of the drug sample.
74.27% carbon is 74.27 g of carbon
7.79% hydrogen is 7.79g of hydrogen
etc.
Then calculate the amount in moles
74.27g of carbon = 6.184 mol
7.79g of hydrogen = 7.728 mol
12.99g of nitrogen = 0.927 mol
4.95g of oxygen = 0.309 mol
Multiply them by 1000 to become whole numbers
6184 units of carbon
7728 units of hydrogen
927 units of nitrogen
309 units of oxygen
The 4 have no common factors......
So the empirical formula is C6184H7728N927O309 ????
Not sure about that..... the number seems huge.