Head to www.savemyexams.
com for more awesome resources
CIE IGCSE Chemistry Your notes
Separation & Purification
Contents
Paper Chromatography
Locating Agents & Rf Values
Separation & Purification Techniques
Page 1 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Paper Chromatography
Your notes
Paper chromatography
Chromatography is used to separate substances and provide information to help identify them
The components have different solubilities in a given solvent
E.g. Different coloured inks that have been mixed to make black ink
A pencil line is drawn on chromatography paper and spots of the sample are placed on it
A pencil is used for this as ink would run into the chromatogram along with the samples
The paper is then lowered into the solvent container, making sure that the pencil line sits above the
level of the solvent so the samples don’t wash into the solvent container
The solvent used is usually water but it can be other substances such as ethanol
The solvent travels up the paper by capillary action, taking some of the coloured substances with it
Different substances have different solubilities so they will travel at different rates, causing the
substances to spread apart
Those substances with higher solubility will travel further than the others
How to carry out chromatography
Page 2 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Your notes
Page 3 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Your notes
The pigments in ink can be analysed using paper chromatography
Page 4 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Interpret simple chromatograms
We can use a chromatogram to compare the substances present in a mixture to known substances and Your notes
make assumptions
Pure substances will produce only one spot on the chromatogram
Impure substances will produce more than one spot on the chromatogram
If two or more substances are the same, they will produce identical chromatograms
If the substance is a mixture, it will separate on the paper to show all
the different components as separate spots
It is common practice to include a known compound as a reference spot
This can help match up to an unknown spot or set of spots in order to identify it
Example chromatogram results
The brown ink has separated showing a spot of red ink, blue ink and yellow ink
Page 5 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
We can draw several conclusions from this chromatogram:
The brown ink is a mixture as there are three dots
Red, yellow and blue are pure as there is only one dot for each Your notes
The brown ink contains red, blue and yellow as the dots are in line with one another horizontally
Exam Tip
Chromatograms in exams will be in black and white so to identify whether a mixture contains a known
sample, the dots need to be in line with one another.
Page 6 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Locating Agents & Rf Values
Your notes
Locating agents
Extended tier only
For chromatography to be useful, the chemist needs to be able to see the components move up the
paper
This is not the case for colourless substances such as amino acids or sugars
Locating agents can be used to see the spots
These are substances which react with the sample and produce a visible / coloured spot for the
product(s)
The chromatogram is treated with the agent after the chromatography run has been carried out,
making the sample runs visible to the naked eye
Page 7 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Retention factor (Rf) values
Extended tier only Your notes
Rf values are used to identify the components of mixtures
The Rf value of a particular compound is always the same
However, it does depend on the solvent used
If the solvent is changed then the Rf value changes
Calculating the Rf value allows chemists to identify unknown substances because it can be compared
with the Rf values of known substances under the same conditions
The retention factor, Rf, is calculated by the equation:
distance moved by substance
Rf =
distance moved by solvent
The Rf value:
Is a ratio
Has no units
Will always be less than 1
Page 8 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Worked example
Your notes
A student obtained the following chromatogram when carrying out chromatography.
Calculate the Rf value of the substance.
Answer:
The Rf value of the substances in the chromatogram above can be calculated by:
distance moved by substance 3
Rf = = = 0.5
distance moved by solvent 6
Page 9 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Exam Tip
Your notes
When you calculate Rf values in exams, make sure to use your ruler carefully to measure the distance
moved by the solvent and the substance as mark schemes can be strict about the values accepted for
these.
Page 10 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Separation & Purification Techniques
Your notes
Filtration & crystallisation
The choice of separation technique depends on the substances being separated
All techniques rely on a difference in properties of the chemicals in the mixture
This is usually a physical property such as boiling point
Separating a mixture of solids
Differences in solubility can be used to separate solids
For a difference in solubility, a suitable solvent must be carefully chosen
Only the desired substance should dissolve in the solvent
Other substances or impurities in the mixture should not dissolve in the solvent
For example, to separate a mixture of sand and salt:
Water is a suitable solvent because salt is soluble in water, but sand is insoluble in water
Filtration
This technique is used to separate an undissolved solid from a mixture of the solid and a liquid /
solution ( e.g. sand from a mixture of sand and water)
Centrifugation can also be used for this mixture
A filter paper is placed in a filter funnel above another beaker
The mixture of insoluble solid and liquid is poured into the filter funnel
The filter paper will only allow small liquid particles to pass through in the filtrate
Solid particles are too large to pass through the filter paper so will stay behind as a residue
Page 11 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Filtration of a mixture of sand and water
Crystallisation Your notes
This method is used to separate a dissolved solid from a solution
A simple application of this is to heat a solution to boiling, remove the heat and leave the solvent to
evaporate
A more common application of this is sometimes called crystallisation
This is when the solid is more soluble in hot solvent than in cold, e.g. copper sulphate from a
solution of copper(II) sulphate
The solution is heated, allowing the solvent to evaporate and leaving a saturated solution behind
You can test if the solution is saturated by dipping a clean, dry, cold glass rod into the solution
If the solution is saturated, crystals will form on the glass rod when it is removed and allowed to
cool
The saturated solution is allowed to cool slowly
Solids will come out of the solution as the solubility decreases
This will be seen as crystals growing
The crystals are collected by filtration
They are then washed with distilled water to remove any impurities
Finally, they are allowed to dry
Common places to dry crystals are between sheets of filter paper or in a drying oven
The process of crystallisation
The solution is slowly heated to remove around half of the liquid. The remaining liquid will evaporate
slowly
Page 12 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Exam Tip
Your notes
In exams, you need to be specific that no more than half of the solution is removed by direct heating or
you may lose a mark.
Page 13 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Distillation: simple & fractional
Simple distillation Your notes
Distillation is used to separate a liquid and soluble solid from a solution (e.g. water from a solution of
saltwater) or a pure liquid from a mixture of liquids
The solution is heated and pure water evaporates producing a vapour which rises through the neck of
the round-bottomed flask
The vapour passes through the condenser, where it cools and condenses, turning into pure water
which is collected in a beaker
After all the water is evaporated from the solution, only the solid solute will be left behind
Simple distillation apparatus
Diagram showing the distillation of a mixture of salt and water
Simple distillation can be used to separate the products of fermentation, such as alcohol and water
However, fractional distillation is a more effective separation technique, commonly used when the
boiling points of the liquids are close and/or a higher degree of purity is required, such as crude oil
Page 14 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Fractional distillation
Used to separate two or more liquids that are miscible with one another (e.g. ethanol and water from a Your notes
mixture of the two)
The solution is heated to the temperature of the substance with the lowest boiling point
This substance will rise and evaporate first
The vapours will pass through a condenser, where they cool and condense
The condensed liquid is then collected in a beaker
All of the substance is evaporated and collected, leaving behind the other component(s) of the
mixture
For water and ethanol:
Ethanol has a boiling point of 78 ºC
Water has a boiling point of of 100 ºC
The mixture is heated until it reaches 78 ºC, at which point the ethanol distills out of the mixture and
into the beaker
When the temperature starts to increase to 100 ºC heating should be stopped as the water and
ethanol are now separated
Page 15 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Your notes
Fractional distillation of a mixture of ethanol and water
An electric heater is safer to use when there are flammable liquids present
The separation of the components in petroleum is achieved by fractional distillation on an industrial
scale
Fractional distillation of crude oil is not carried out in school laboratories due to the toxic nature of
some of the components of the crude oil, but it can sometimes be simulated using a synthetic crude oil
made specially for the demonstration
Page 16 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Worked example
Your notes
A student is given a mixture of calcium sulfate, magnesium chloride and water. The table below shows
some information about calcium sulfate and magnesium chloride.
substance solubility in water state at room temperature
calcium sulfate insoluble solid
magnesium chloride soluble solid
How does the student obtain magnesium chloride crystals from the mixture?
A. Crystallisation followed by distillation
B. Crystallisation followed by filtration
C. Distillation followed by crystallisation
D. Filtration followed by crystallisation
Answer
The correct answer is D because:
The difference in solubility in water means the first step is to make a solution
The magnesium chloride will dissolve, but the solid calcium sulfate will be left behind
The mixture is filtered to remove the calcium sulfate and then evaporated and crystallised to
obtain magnesium chloride crystals
Exam Tip
You may be asked how to separate a mixture of gases:
One method involves cooling the gaseous mixture sufficiently to liquefy all of the gases, which are
then separated by fractional distillation.
They can also be separated by diffusion, where the boiling points are very close or it is impractical
or expensive to use fractional distillation.
Page 17 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Assessing purity
Pure substances melt and boil at specific and sharp temperatures Your notes
For example, water has a boiling point of 100°C and a melting point of 0°C
Mixtures have a range of melting and boiling points as they consist of different substances that melt or
boil at different temperatures
Therefore, melting and boiling point data can be used to distinguish pure substances from
mixtures
An unknown pure substance can be identified by experimentally determining its melting point and
boiling point and comparing them to literature values / data tables
Boiling points are commonly determined by distillation
Melting point analysis is routinely used to assess the purity of drugs for example
This is done using a melting point apparatus which allows you to slowly heat up a small amount of
the sample, making it easier to observe the exact melting point
Page 18 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources
Melting point test using an oil bath
Your notes
This is then compared to data tables
The closer the measured value is to the actual melting or boiling point, the purer the sample is
If the sample contains impurities:
The boiling point may appear higher than the sample's actual boiling point
The melting point may appear lower than the sample's actual melting point
Page 19 of 19
© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
