In this experiment, solid-liquid extraction was used to separate trimyristin from the other components in nutmeg. The result was then tested for purity using melting point analysis. This extraction technique uses differing solubilities of components in a chosen solvent system, in this case diethyl ether, as a means of separation. Utilizing this technique, of the original 3.8146 grams of nutmeg, 0.1905 grams of trimyristin were recovered, yielding a 4.99 % composition. This methodology can be used to extract oils for use in medicine, and is used commonly to brew coffee or tea.
Solid-liquid extraction utilizes differences in solubility of parts within a mixture to isolate a particular component. Solubility of a compound is based on the …show more content…
This was done by mixing diethyl ether with nutmeg and allowing reflux to occur for thirty minutes. The diethyl ether is a mostly non-polar solvent system with a slight polarity due to the dipole moment created by the oxygen carbon bonds. The trimyristin is also a mostly non polar molecule with some polarity due to the three esters contained within. This similarity, mostly non-polar, causes trimyristin to be soluble in diethyl ether. The resulting mixture was then gravity filtered to remove the insoluble components of nutmeg leaving only trimyristin in ethyl ether. The solvent system was then removed using the rotary evaporator. Another solvent system, acetone, was then added to the resulting oil for recrystallization. This solvent system was chosen because its increased polarity due to the keytone contained within causes trimyristin to be soluble at higher temperatures, but no longer soluble when cooled down. By heating up mixture as acetone was added then cooled down in an ice bath, recrystallization was allowed to occur. After crystals formed the acetone was removed via vacuum filtration. Upon testing the purity of the sample by melting point, the melting point range was found to be 53.5ºC to 55ºC. This melting point range is slightly below the expected 57ºC melting point of pure trimyristin. However, the trimyristin was only dried for a few minutes and could of contained a small amount of acetone which would account for the slight drop. Also, there may be other components of nutmeg that are also soluble in diethyl ether that could remain. Of the initial 3.8146 grams of nutmeg, 0.1905 grams of trimyristin was successfully obtained, yielding a 4.99% composition by mass. This is lower than the expected 20% which could be due to a variety of factors: if left to reflux for too long some of the product could have been lost due to evaporation, during gravity filtration some product
Solid-liquid extraction utilizes differences in solubility of parts within a mixture to isolate a particular component. Solubility of a compound is based on the …show more content…
This was done by mixing diethyl ether with nutmeg and allowing reflux to occur for thirty minutes. The diethyl ether is a mostly non-polar solvent system with a slight polarity due to the dipole moment created by the oxygen carbon bonds. The trimyristin is also a mostly non polar molecule with some polarity due to the three esters contained within. This similarity, mostly non-polar, causes trimyristin to be soluble in diethyl ether. The resulting mixture was then gravity filtered to remove the insoluble components of nutmeg leaving only trimyristin in ethyl ether. The solvent system was then removed using the rotary evaporator. Another solvent system, acetone, was then added to the resulting oil for recrystallization. This solvent system was chosen because its increased polarity due to the keytone contained within causes trimyristin to be soluble at higher temperatures, but no longer soluble when cooled down. By heating up mixture as acetone was added then cooled down in an ice bath, recrystallization was allowed to occur. After crystals formed the acetone was removed via vacuum filtration. Upon testing the purity of the sample by melting point, the melting point range was found to be 53.5ºC to 55ºC. This melting point range is slightly below the expected 57ºC melting point of pure trimyristin. However, the trimyristin was only dried for a few minutes and could of contained a small amount of acetone which would account for the slight drop. Also, there may be other components of nutmeg that are also soluble in diethyl ether that could remain. Of the initial 3.8146 grams of nutmeg, 0.1905 grams of trimyristin was successfully obtained, yielding a 4.99% composition by mass. This is lower than the expected 20% which could be due to a variety of factors: if left to reflux for too long some of the product could have been lost due to evaporation, during gravity filtration some product