NAMES: Student numbers
WANDYA DANIEL 218057822
FRANS HAFENI 218090420
Organic chemistry 2
ORG701S
Group: 2
Date conducted: 30 June 2020
Experiment 5
Recrystallization and Melting Point Determination of Benzoic
acid
30 June 2020
Recrystallization and Melting Point Determination of Benzoic acid
1. AIM
The purpose of this experiment was to, purify benzoic acid from impurity, through the process
of recrystallization (G.Jones, 2018), and to verifies or prove that the compound obtained is really
Benzoic acid, through the determination of the melting point, of the obtained compound.
2. Introduction
In general crystallization also known as fractional crystallization is the procedures of purifying an
impure compound in solvent. The methods of purification is based on the principle that the
solubility of most solid increases with increased temperature, that is why boiling is normally
involved in the process. The compound obtained is always tested and verified through, the
simplest way of determining the boiling point or melting point. Crystallization normally work the
best when the quantity of impurities is very small.
3. Equipment and chemicals
Equipment/materials chemicals
- Hot plate - Benzoic acid
- Buchner funnel - ice
- Rubber tubing - water
- spatula
- stirring rod
- weighing boat/paper
- 125 ml Erlenmeyer flask
- 50 ml beaker
- 25 ml graduated cylinder
- Thermometer
- capillaries
4. reaction scheme
5. procedures
1.00 g of impure benzoic acid, was weighed in the weighing boat, and transferred to a
125 ml Erlenmeyer flask
The benzoic acid was then dissolved in 20ml of distilled water, measured with a 25 ml
graduated cylinder.
The Erlenmeyer flask with solution was then heated to boil, with continuous stirring
with a stirring road, to make sure that the whole benzoic acid dissolved completely
Few drops of water was also added during stirring to ensure fast dissolve
The solution was then cool down to a room temperature 25 0C, and then on ice to allow
the crystallization of benzoic acid
The solution was then filtered with Buchner funnel with a filter paper, with the help of
suction vacuum, filtrate as impurities, and pure benzoic acid trapped in the filter paper.
Further drying of crystal was also done by wrapping up the crystal in a tower paper.
After the crystals are completely dry, the recovered benzoic acid’s mass was then
measured, and recorded
The melting points of the compound was then carried out and recorded, through the
capillary method.
6. Data and results (Recrystallization)
Crystallization method yielded white crystals of benzoic acid, which was tested and verified
that they are benzoic acid crystal through determination of melting point, which was
founded to have a melting point range from 123- 124 oC
1. Data on the impure Benzoic acid
a. Mass of the benzoic acid + weighing paper _____1.02___ g
b. Mass of weighing paper ______0.47__ g
c. Mass of impure benzoic acid ___1.53_____ g
2. Data for recrystallized benzoic acid
a. Mass of recrystallized benzoic acid + weighing paper _____1.22___g
b. Mass of weighing paper _____0.47___ g
c. Mass of recrystallized benzoic acid ___0.75_____g
d. Calculation of percentage recovery Percent recovery
Mass of recrystallized benzoic acid
= × 100
Mass of impure benzoic acid
0.75
= × 100%
1.22
_____61.47___%
d. Melting point of recrystallized benzoic acid ___120.3-122.8_____ ℃
e. Structural formula of the benzoic acid
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be concluded that this experiment was successfully achieved because, the
white crystal obtain are in fact benzoic acid, as they have a corresponding melting temperature
range similar to that of Benzoic acid, which is in range of 122-123 oC. The percentage recovery
was calculated as 61.4% which is relatively few. The low percent recoveries on these
compounds is due to several issues. One of the issues is that some of the material was lost
during transfers from beaker to beaker. These losses due to transfers add up the more times the
material is moved. A lot of the compound was also left in the solvent after recrystallization had
occurred. Only enough of the compound crystalizes to return the solvent to a saturated state, so
there is a known loss when using this method of purification. The benefit of recrystallization is
that it is a relatively simple way to purify a compound. Recrystallization is so effective and
efficient.
Post-Laboratory Questions
1. Suction filtration is preferred when the solid is retained as gravity filtration is much less efficient at
removing residual liquid from the solid on the filter paper.
2. Recrystallization is a method of arranging initial particles in a crystal display to form new arrangement
of particle to assign purity to the crystal structure (Petrucci, 2007). Since the presence of the impurity in
the crystal may increase the melting point of the crystals depending on the impurity added to the
crystal. Pure crystals are considered to have a high melting point in the particular range. Since, Benzoic
acid was scratched on the filter paper, the small amount of unmelted remaining material could not be
pure benzoic acid. It might be either materials clashed from the filter paper when the student was
scrapping with small amount of benzoic acid.
3. It is when a solution produces an insoluble oil instead of crystal because it became insoluble at a
temperature above the melting point or too little of solvent. By adding more solvent or by using a
solvent with a lower boiling point.
4. a)
i) Boiling stones; Is to prevent solution from super heating and keep it from suddenly boiling
over.
ii) Activated carbon; Is to remove color from impurities
iii) Seed crystals; Helps crystals to form by acting as a template from which crystals can grow.
b) Boiling chips cannot be re-used since the pores inside these stones become filled with liquid on
cooling, so if they were to be re-used, they would release those chemicals and contaminate the next
experiment.
5.
Solubility is 0.12 g of Y in 10 ml @ 25°C. Hence 0.12 g x 7.5 = 0.90 g are soluble in 75 ml @ 25°C. If we sta
rt with 5 g of Y the difference of 5 g – 0.9 = 4.1g is the maximum yield possible.
a. Percentage (%) lost in cold solvent :
𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡
( ) 𝑥 100%
𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡
0.9 𝑔
= × 100
6.375
= 14.12%
Hence, grams of solid lost in cold water can be calculated:
𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑥 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡
5 𝑔 × 14.12 = 0.71 𝑔
b) Percentage (%) recovery of solid:
[𝑔 (𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑) – 𝑔 (𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡)]
× 100%
𝑔 (𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑)
5 − 0.71
= × 100
5
= 85.8%
References
G.Jones, A. (2018). crystallization process system. In A. G. Jones, crystallization process in system (p.
341). Berlin: springer publisher.
Petrucci, H. H. (2007). General Chemistry: Principles & Modern Aplications. Upper Suddle River: Pearson
education. Retrieved from http//www.chem.libretexts.org
Mutorwa, K. (2020). Recrystallization and Melting Point Determination of Benzoic acid. Practicals,
Namibia University of Science and Technology, Health and Applied Science, Windhoek.
