Aspirin Synthesis Lab Report

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Aspirin is the most common over-the-counter drug that is produced. Aspirin can treat symptoms such as fever, inflammation, and can reduce the risk of a heart attack. The chemical name for aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid and it is made from the “reaction of acetic anhydride with salicylic acid in the presence of phosphoric acid as a catalyst”. (A. French et al., p.77) (CH3CO)2O + HOC6H4COOH ---H3PO4-→ CH3CO2C6H4CO2H + CH3COOH The purpose of the lab is to create aspirin using recrystallization and validate its purity by determined by reaction of the product with Fe^+3. The hypothesis is that the aspirin was pure. Recrystallization is a way to separate; the object is to accumulate one part of a solid mixture that is pure and not contaminated from the rest of the mixture. According to Experiment 5: Synthesis of Aspirin in the General Chemistry Lab Manual, there are three steps for…show more content…
The solid dissolves in a hot solvent to become purified 2. As solution cools down crystals begin to form 3. Crystals can be retrieved using filtration and the contaminations persist in solution The iron (III) test is used to determine if salicylic acid is still present in aspirin. If the salicylic acid is present, the solution would turn a purple color (A. French et al.,p.78). 6(C6H5OH) + Fe^(3+) → [Fe(OC6H5)6]^(3-) + 6H^+ Since salicylic acid is a phenol and aspirin is not, pure aspirin should give a negative iron (III) test. Finding the limiting reagent is what needs to be calculated first to know how much aspirin will be produced. The limiting reagent is what is used up first and what controls the amount of product. From here now theoretical and percent yields can be calculated. The theoretical yield is the greatest amount of product that will synthesize in an ideal condition. The percent yield is the ratio between actual yield and theoretical yield multiplied by 100. The equation for these are (A. French et al. p 77): % yield= actual yield *
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