Extract Trimyristin From Nutmeg

As a part of our study on how to completely extract trimyristin from nutmeg, we had to determine the best way to find a solvent that would properly recrystalize it. We used triphenylmethane as a test compound, attempting to find a solvent that would allow it to recrystalize. The most suitable solvent would dissolve the solute when the solvent is hot, not dissolve it when the solvent is cold, and should be fairly volatile and easily removable from the desired product. We tested water as a potential solvent and triphenylmethane would not dissolve when the water was at room temperature or when it was hot, so this was not a good solvent. When we tested methanol, triphenylmethan did not dissolve at room temperature, but did dissove when the methanol was hot, and then recrystalized into a solid when the mehtanol was cooled, so this was a suitable solvent. When we tested toluene, triphenylmethan dissolved right away at room temperature and was therefore determined to be not suitable for recrystalization. Had we been required to find a solvent for trimyristin, we would have undergone the same tests with various potential solvents for it.

Extraction is the transfer of a solute from one phase to another. Adding a solvent to a solid that only dissolves certain compounds in the

We were given that a good solvent for recrystalizing trimyristin was acetone. Acetone was heated on a steam bath and added to the crude trimyristin to completely dissolve it. The solution was immediately cooled so that the trimyristin crystals formed in a mother liquor of impurities. The crystals vacuum filtered through a Büchner funnel and rinsed with ice cold acetone so only the impurities dissolved and pure crystals were left in the funnel. To finish, we dried the pure trimyristin crystals using a high vacuum pump, and 0.1470g remained with a 3.674% recovery from nutmeg, and a 15.186% recovery from crude