Purification of Benzoic Acid by Sublimation and

Melting Point Determination

T.H. Tsai, R.F Vila, K.Y.* Visco, R.G. Vivar, J.C. Zafra, J.C. Ziganay
Abstract:
Sublimation is the process by which a substance undergoes conversion from the solid phase to the gas
phase, without going through the intermediate liquid phase. This experiment aims to purify benzoic acid
through sublimation, compute for its percentage recovery and compare its purified substance with a
standard to determine its melting point. The impure benzoic acid is heated in an evaporating dish covered
with inverted watch glass and after some time, the sublimate is collected for percentage recovery
computation and also packed in a capillary tube for its melting point determination. A result of 7.88% of
percentage recovery was achieved from the sublimation process and a result of 130C was obtained in
the melting point determination indicating that the pure substance (standard) and the sublimate are the
same.

Introduction:
Sublimation is the process by which a
substance undergoes conversion from
the solid phase to the gas phase,
without going through the liquid phase.
In this phenomenon, the transition from
the solid to the gaseous state requires
an intermediate liquid state [1]. A
number of solids can simply change into
vapors; these vapors can sublime,
meaning that vapors form a solid without
going through the liquid state. A good
example that can undergo sublimation is
ice when pressure is reduced, 1/100th
of the usual atmospheric pressure.
Sublimation is helpful in purifying some
solids like menthol, naphthalene, iodine,
etc. [2]. Sublimation is a technique used
by chemists to purify compounds. Under
this reduced pressure, the solid
volatilizes and condenses as a purified
compound on a cooled surface. Once
heating ceases, the purified compound
may be collected from the cooling

surface which has a non-volatile residue

of impurities behind [1]. Benzoic acid
was first obtained by sublimation from
gum benzoin. This is also known as
flowers of benzoin [3]. Benzoic acid in
its basic form is called impure benzoic
acid. The impurities that are in the newly
formed benzene are because of phenyl
and benzyl compounds that seriously
affect the product. The impurities
contain amino compounds that are
present in a larger extent inside impure
benzene [4]. A pure benzoic acid can be
obtained from recrystallization and
sublimation but in this test, well focus
on sublimation.
The melting point of a substance is the
temperature at which its solid and liquid
phases coexist in equilibrium. The
normal melting point of a substance is
its melting point at one atmosphere
pressure. Changes in pressure have
very small effects on melting points, but

they have large effects on boiling points

[5].
The experiment aims to purify benzoic
acid by sublimation, to determine and
compare the melting point of the product
with a standard and to calculate its
percentage recovery that is obtained.
Methodology:

Figure 3.1 Sublimation set-up

perforated filter paper. An inverted preweighed watch glass is placed on the

top of filter paper and heated by a hot
plate. Figure 3.1 is given to serve as
guide. The watch glass is cooled with a
tissue paper placed on the top of watch
glass that is kept moist with water. The
sample is heated for 10-15 minutes until
the sample has vaporized. When the
set-up is cooled, it is said that the preweighed glass must be inverted. The
sublimate is collected and weighed in
the watch glass.
For melting point determination, the
sublimate was ground into a fine powder
and a capillary tube is pressed into the
powder. The closed end of the capillary
tube is dropped several times through a
glass tubing until it is well-packed with
approximately 1mm of the sublimate.
The capillary tube is attached to a
thermometer with a piece of rubber
band together with the standard pure
benzoic acid that is also packed in a
capillary tube. Refer to the Figure 3.2 on
the set-up for the melting point
determination.
Results:
The results in the experiments are given
here:

Weight of the impure benzoic

acid:
Figure 3.2 Melting point set-up

Five grams of impure benzoic acid is

weighed in an evaporating dish. The
evaporating dish is covered with a

5g

Weight of the watch glass +

sublimate:

124.5g

Weight of the watch glass

(empty):

124.20g

Weight of the sublimate:

0.3938g
Percentage recovery:
weight of sublimate
100
weight of impure benzoic acid
0.3938 g
100 =7.8 8
5g
Melting point of benzoic
acid

Sublimate
t1 = 124C
t2 = 130C

Pure
Benzoic
Acid
t1 = 124C
t2 = 130C

Discussions:
In the experiment performed, the
sublimate is formed at the cooling
surface (inverted face) of the watch
glass after heating for about 10-15
minutes. The sublimate weighed about
0.3938g and a percentage recovery of
7.88% was obtained from the ratio of the

weight of the sublimate and the weight

of the impure benzoic acid then
multiplying it by 100%. The melting point
of the sublimate as well as the pure
benzoic acid that has been obtained
based on the experiment is 130C.
This means that when 5g of benzoic
acid is subjected to the process
sublimation, 0.3938g of sublimate will be
obtained and its percentage recovery
shows that 7.88% of the pure substance
is produced from the starting material.
The melting point determination dictated
that the sublimate obtained is a pure
substance having the same melting
point with the standard pure benzoic
acid which is 130C.
References:
1.Sublimation (chemistry). New World
Encyclopedia.
24
Feb.
2007.
<http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/
entry/Sublimation_%28chemistry%29>
2.Sublimation.
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/6779999/07
-Sublimation>
3. Benzene. Wikipedia: The Free
Encyclopedia.
23
Jul.
2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene>
4.What Is Impure Benzoic Acid? Mike
Charmaine. eHow Health.
<http://www.ehow.com/about_6629946_i
mpure-benzoic-acid_.html>
5. Whitten, Davis, Peck and Stanley.
Chemistry, Ninth Edition. Canada, 2010.
p.468.