Synthesis Of Sallicylic Acid From Wintergreen Oil

The first portion of this experiment required the synthesis of salicylic acid from wintergreen oil. To begin, a heating block was set on a hotplate and set to 250℃. A reflux apparatus was set up and securely clamped to a support stand, to be used later in order to conduct the heated reflux for reaction. A boiling flask was obtained and into it went 0.01mol (1.521 g) of methyl salicylate and 15 mL of 6M sodium hydroxide including 3 or 4 boiling chips. The reaction was refluxed and heated from 30 minutes. After the reaction was successfully conducted, the flask was observed evidence of cloudiness (or and oil layer) and the lingering of a wintergreen smell. Once the flask was proven to not have cloudiness etc., the condenser was removed and the …show more content…
A magnetic stirrer was placed into the beaker and the reaction was heated in a 50℃ water bath. The reaction mixture was heated and stirred for 5 minutes until the salicylic acid dissolved. The mixture was set aside to cool down to room temperature and crystallize in the beaker. Afterwards 6 mL of cold deionized water was added to the crystals (aspirin). The crystals were separated from the mixture through vacuum filtration using a Hirsch funnel. The mixture was washed with 0.5 mL of cold deionized water and the aspirin product was transferred to filter paper. The aspirin product was characterized using Thin LAyer Chromatography and compared to a methyl salicylate sample and a standard aspirin tablet sample, see figure 1. The samples were applied to its designated line on the TLC plate and the plate was placed in an elution solvent consisted of a 50:50 mixture of hexane and ethyl acetate. About 1 mg of the final product was dissolved into 0.5 mL of elution solvent and later the product’s IR spectrum was obtained, see figure