Prelab Work in Organic Chemistry essay

Experimet Title: Simple Distillation and Characterization of Compounds
Separation of ethyl acetate from microscale acetanllide by simple distillation at the semi- level, and characterization by spectroscopy of the two compounds using IR, and NMR by the determination of their physical properties.

Experiment Purpose
This experiment is purposely carrieed out in order to faclitate the separation of ethyll acetate from acetanilide through the process of simple distillation. This experiment will also seek to identify the IR spectroscopy, melting point, and density of the separated compounds.

Questions
Distillation: This a method of obtaining more purified liquids or identification of compounds where the initial liquid is first heated up to its boiling point. As the liquid boils, it vaporizes after which it is captured, condensed and collected later. Distillation is applied to the identification as well as purification of compounds. By applying the boiling point of a compound, which is an important physical property, it can be identified from a mixture of several compounds because it can evaporate at that temperature leaving the other compounds. When it comes to distillation as a purification process, the components of a mixture are separated by collecting the condensed compound at different temperatures. This experiment is a demonstration of how to purify a volatile liquid that contains impurities of non-volatile liquid will be done. The volatile component of the initial mixture will be ethyl acetate, which will be captured and condensed as pure ethyl acetate (Carey 72).

Distillate: This concentrated liquid product has been extracted after the condensation of vapor in the process of distillation.

Forerun fraction: These are usually the first fractions or the transition between fractions that are first distilled in a fractional distillation process. In fractional distillation, the differences of temperature between the points of boiling of the fractions are not large enough, and a series of simple distillations is required. The boiling punt of the forerun fraction is usually low hence, they are discarded being the first.

What is the purpose of adding boiling stones to the distillation flask in a simple distillation experiment?
The boiling stone is porous and thus contains air within it. Once the stone is heated, as the boiling process of the liquid continues, the air entrapped expands thus forcing its way out of the stone. When this heated gas mixes with superheated liquid it helps in balancing the liquid and the gas phase of the process. Thus, the heat needed in order liquid to change into gas will be reduced, and the transition of the two phases will not be explosive thus bumping fails. Moreover, the boiling stones will ensure even heating of the liquid as well as accelerate the rate of temperature increase. This uniform boil is important in acquiring effective results in distillation, because it will ensure that the light liquid is being distilled out in the process. Since, they inhibit bumping, which may result to the loss of some of the reagents they help in acquiring accurate results (Solomons 44).

Objectives of the Experiment
The objective is to separate ethyl acetate from acetanilide, which is volatile and non-volatile respectively using simple distillation. Further, the compounds will be analyzed using IR spectroscopy and their respective physical properties such as density and melting point.

Procedure
The procedure will involve the reaction of the two chemicals in the appropriate condition that would ensure that the expected results are obtained.

Limiting reagents
The scholarship essay samples to be used will be measured as 50mg of actinide. It will then be put in a conical flask and then 1ml of ethyl acetate will be added using a pipit. A boiling stone will then be added into the mixture. The apparatus will be mounted as shown below and a facet precaution will be taken where the first flask will be mounted on a sand bath.