Naoh Reaction Lab Report

Initially a 1:1:1 mixture of an unknown acid, base, and neutral compound was obtained with the goal of being separated through extraction and then further purified through recrystallization. Since the mixture was a 1:1:1 ratio, this means the amount present was .333 grams for each compound as this is important for calculating the percent recovery from extraction. The percent recovery is the percentage of the original product that is recovered, in this case the percent of the initial 0.33g that is recovered. The basic extraction using NaOH yielded a crude amount of 0.226 g of the acid. The final mass was not measured until removal of the base occurred and the compound was dried for a week. Thus, the percent recovery is calculated to be (.226g/.333g)*100

Thus, the percent recovery is calculated as (0.06g/0.333g)*100 or 18.02%. Lastly, after drying the neutral compound with sodium thiosulfate a crude amount of 0.226g was reported. Thus, the percent recovery for the neutral compound from extraction is calculated as (0.226g/0.333g)*100 or 67.87%. In discussing the percent recovery, the acidic compound and basic compound had a relatively high percent recovery of 67.87%. In the case of the acid this likely means that the proper amount of HCl was used in the neutralization step, and that the compound was kept at a cool enough temperature while the neutralization was occurring. This also means that the vacuum filtration was done effectively and helped retain the desired product. In the case of the neutral compound this is likely the result of good extraction techniques with the separatory funnel, as the maximum amount of neutral compound was removed and was then dried properly. However, the basic compound had a low percent recovery at 18.02%. This could be the result of multiple errors during the extraction

The acidic and neutral compound had relatively high percent recoveries at 67.87% for both. However, the basic compound had a relatively low percent recovery at 18.02%. The low recovery for the basic compound may be due to the errors mentioned earlier of such as an insufficient amount of NaOH and not keeping the flask at a cold enough temperature. Therefore, since all three crude compounds were extracted successfully the melting points were then observed and recorded. The acidic and basic compounds had melting points of 164°C-165°C and 141°C-145°C which successfully align with melting points of salicylic acid and 4-nitroaniline respectively, which are their correct identities. The neutral compound had a measured melting point of 80°C-74°C which indicates that it is 9-fluorenone, when in reality it is phenanthrene, however, this is possibly due to the presence of impurities as well as observer error when taking the melting point. Since these melting points are crude, meaning they contain impurities, they are not conclusive. Recrystallization was done after extraction in order to remove any impurities and purify the acidic, basic, and neutral compounds. The percent recovery for the basic and neutral compounds are relatively high at 60% and 52.7% respectively. However, the acidic compound percent recovery is lower at 22.50%. However,