Synthesis Lab Report Essay

Words: 1286
Pages: 6

Discussion The goal of this experiment was to extract the acidic, basic, and neutral components of an unknown compound in order to identify each component. There were many steps taken to achieve this goal and have evidence to support the conclusions. The primary step in determining the identity of each component was converting the compound into solidified states of each component. The results of the recovered masses for each component are listed in Table 1. The theoretical mass of each component was 0.5 grams. Through the equation and calculations exhibited in the results section, a percent yield of each component was found. The percent yield of 104% for the basic component suggests that either the solid was contaminated while drying and gained …show more content…
A small Erlenmeyer flask was prepared by covering the bottom of the flask with calcium chloride. The amount of calcium chloride necessary to cover the bottom was 1.89 grams. The ether and neutral component mixture was poured into this Erlenmeyer flask and mixed for 5 minutes. The three Erlenmeyer flasks contained mixtures of the components with other compounds. In order to determine the identity of each component, they had to be separated from their respective mixtures. The Erlenmeyer flask containing the neutral component was placed onto a steam bath to facilitate the boiling off of the ether. Because ether has such a low boiling point, the ether boiled off leaving the neutral component remained in solid form in the flask. The mixtures containing the acidic and basic components required a different method of separation. The mixture containing the basic component was placed in an ice bath. Due to the combination with 10% hydrochloric acid, the mixture was acidic and required precipitating out the basic component. 10% sodium hydroxide was added in increments of 10mL at a time until the pH of the mixture became basic. The precipitated mixture was then vacuum filtered using a Buchner funnel, leaving the solidified basic