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CHEM 200L Expt 3 2IMT Group 7

BENZOIC ACID PURIFICATION THROUGH SUBLIMATION AND MELTING POINT

DETERMINATION
Sollestre, Louisiana P.*, Priela, Jan Andre Olivier T., Sacular, Ehdielyn C., Soriano,
Marttin Jacob P., Tan, Cayle Lester S.
Department of Medical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Santo Tomas

ABSTRACT

The aim of this experiment is to purify Benzoic acid by sublimation and determine the
melting point of the product as wells as compare the relationship of the product with a
standard. Sublimation is the direct transition of a solid to a vapour without passing through a
liquid phase. Vaporization-solidification can be used since the vapor can solidify. The
procedure starts by heating the compound while keeping the set-up moist producing the
sublimate in the form of crystals. From the initial 5.00 g of impure benzoic acid, only 0.200 g
of sublimate was collected, indicating a 3.98% recovery of the compound. To verify the purity
of the sublimate, its melting point was compared to the melting point of the pure benzoic acid
through a set-up using an oil bath and a thermometer. The sublimate started melting at 83C
and ended at 90C. On the other hand, the pure benzoic acid started melting at 111C and
ended at 112C. The melting point range of the sublimate was broad which indicates an
impure sample, while the melting point of the pure benzoic acid ranges from 0.5C to 1.0C.

INTRODUCTION trying to test the purity of the substance or

Sublimation is a phase transition
process from a solid to a gas without ever
entering an intermediate liquid phase.
Sublimation is an endothermic phase
transition that occurs at temperatures and
pressures below a substances triple point
in its phase diagram. The vapor pressure
from the gaseous phase can solidify,
making sublimation a technique for purifying
compounds. Sublimation however, is limited
to impurities that are non volatile or have a
significantly lower vapor pressure than the
pure compound. For a compound to
sublime, its vapor pressure must be greater
than the atmospheric pressure at the
melting point.
compound. Melting point is also useful for
characterizing and identifying the
substance. Melting point is define as the
temperature at which the solid and liquid
are in equilibrium at total pressure of 1
atmosphere. The melting point of substance
depends on pressure and is usually
specified at standard pressure. Changes in
pressure have very small effects on melting
points, but they have large effects on boiling
points. The objectives of this experiment is
to purify benzoic acid through sublimation,
to determine the difference between melting
points of the product and a standard and to
calculate the percentage recovery.
METHODOLOGY

Melting point determination is often The experiment began by placing five

associated with sublimation especially when 5 grams of impure benzoic acid in an
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evaporating dish covered by a perforated
filter paper. On top of it was an inverted pre-
weighed watch glass. It was secured tightly
using as masking tape to avoid releasing of
vapor. A moist tissue paper was placed on
center top of the watch glass to help it cool.
The set up was heated on a hot plate for
10-15 minutes until most of the sample has
vaporized and crystals were produced. The
set-up was removed from the hot plate and
the watch glass was carefully inverted. The
sublimate or the crystals in the watch glass
and filter paper were collected. From the
gathered crystals, the percentage recovery
were calculated.
Figure 1. Sublimation Set-Up
For melting point determination, the
collected sublimate was grinded into a fine
powder using a mortar and a pestle. After
which, the grinded was packed into a
capillary tube that has its other end sealed
using a bunsen burner. For comparison,
pure benzoic acid was weighed and was
also made well-packed in capillary tubes.
The two capillary tubes were attached to a
thermometer using a rubber band. The
closed end of the tubes were aligned with
the mercury bulb of the thermometer. An oil
bath setup was assembled. The capillary
tubes were immersed in the oil bath and
heated. The intial temperature which the
sublimate and pure benzoic acid starts to
melt as well as the final temperature at
which they completely melted were noted
and compared.
Figure 2. Melting point determination set-up
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Sublimation was the process used to
purify benzoic acid. The impure benzoic
acid has to be heated for the formation of
needle-like crystals which was called the
sublimate. The purpose of the holes of the
filter paper was to act as an improvised
vacuum where sublimate passes through
from lower vessel to upper vessel. The
purpose of the moist tissue paper was to
act as a cooling unit resulting to a low
temperature that induced the crystallization
of the pure substance. It was noticed that
during the process of sublimation the
impure benzoic acid did not pass through
the liquid phase. The reason for this is that
the benzoic acid has non-volatile impurities.
The sublimate collected was used to
determine its melting point through the
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capillary method with the use of oil bath. means to say, 96.02% were impurities.
Oil bath is preferred than water bath since
the initial boiling point of oil is more than Table 2. Melting Points of Benzoic acid
100C, hence can be used for temperatures Pure Sublimate
above 100C. Melting point determination Initial
111C 83C
was done to verify the purity of the Teperature
Final
compound. 112C 90C
Temperature

Table 1. Raw data from the experiment Table 2 shows that pure benzoic
Weight of the 5.0254 g. acid starts melting at 111C and was
impure benzoic completely melted at 112C. The pure
acid benzoic acid has a small dipole moment
Weight of the 92.00 g.
resulting to a high vapor pressure which
watch glass +
made it melt in a higher temperature rather
sublimate
than the sublimate. Pure compounds tend
Weight of the 91.80 g.
to melt very quickly once they reach the
watch glass
correct temperature, which explains the
(empty)
Weight of the 0.20 g. narrow range of its melting points. Pure
sublimate solids tent to form stronger lattice bonds
that require more energy (heat) to break up.
Table 1 presents the data needed for
the calculation of percentage recovery after
Conversely, the sublimate of the
the sublimation process. The initial weight
impure benzoic acid started to melt a 83C
of benzoic acid is 5.0254 g and its weight
and was completely melted at 90C. The
after sublimation is 0.20 g. The change in
presence of impurities affect the melting
weight showed the turning point of where in
point of the sublimate.They tend to lower
the impure benzoic acid is to its gaseous
the overall melting point of the compound
state.
versus the value of pure material. They tend
to increase the range of the melting point
Computations for Percentage Recovery
values. Both of these effects are due to
Weight of Sublimate
% Recovery x100 weakening of the molecular lattice structure
Weight of Impure Benzoic Acid
0.20 g. of the solid. Impurities present tend to
%Recovery x100
5.0254 g . dirsupt these lattice network thus requireing
%Recovery 3.98%
less energy to disrupt them.
The calculation tells that 3.98% of
the original impure benzoic acid were CONCLUSION
gathered at the end of sublimation. That The sublimate from the impure benzoic
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acid melted at a low temperature due to the
presence of impurities. The melting point of
the sublimate is far from the standard
value.The percentage recovery is 3.98%.
From the final results, error may have
affected the reliability of the final product.
One possible error was a random error, due
to environmental factors such as slight
influence of temperature during the
procedure. Oservational error such as
parallax in reading the thermometer can
also be a factor. The uneven distribution of
heat due to the height of tripod may also
contribute to the error.
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