Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/paper-1/a4/c/ii/solution

There are three stretching fundamentals, although four stretching-region features are listed. The low feature at is predominantly C=O stretch (). The two features at and are the symmetric and antisymmetric C–H stretches; their order is not determined by this mode count alone.
The feature is consistent with the first C=O vibrational overtone, close to and shifted downward by anharmonicity. Its symmetry is , so symmetry permits the weak anharmonic transition. It is not a fourth stretching fundamental. The combination-band evidence in the next part distinguishes the two C–H assignments.

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