Cyclohexanone exhibits its strongest IR absorption band at 5.86 μm, and at this wavelength there is a linear relationship between absorbance and concentration.
(a) Identify the part of the molecule responsible for the absorbance at this wavelength.
(b) Suggest a solvent that would be suitable for a quantitative analysis of cyclohexanone at this wavelength.
(c) A solution of cyclohexanone (4.0 mg/mL) in the solvent selected in part (b) exhibits a blank-corrected absorbance of 0.800 in a cell with a path length of 0.025 mm. What is the detection limit for this compound under these conditions if the noise associated with the spectrum of the solvent is 0.001 absorbance units?