Elizabeth Ping | November 22, 2011| 1

Isolation of Caffeine from Tea

Introduction:

The purpose of this experiment was to isolate caffeine that is found in tea by using the
techniques of extracting, separating, drying, and sublimation.

Procedure:
See attachment.
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Observations and Calculations:

Mass of tea bag 2.2 g

Mass of sublimation tube 12.78 g
Mass of sublimation tube and caffeine 12.829 g
Mass of caffeine before sublimation (mass sublimation 12.829 g-12.78 g=0.049 g
tube and caffeine-sublimation tube)
Percent recovery of caffeine before 0.049
( ) 100 = 2.23%
sublimation( ) 100 2.2

Mass of caffeine after sublimation(mass weigh paper 0.308 g-0.293 g=0.015 g
and caffeine-mass of weigh paper)
Percent recovery of caffeine after 0.015
( ) 100 = 0.68%
sublimation( ) 100 2.2

Melting Point of caffeine 215C
Actual amount of caffeine in tea bag (2.2 g X 0.05) 2.2 g X 0.05=0.11 g
Percent yield (actual/expected)X100 (0.015/0.11 g)X100=13.64%

Conclusions:
The techniques of evaporation and sublimation were used to purify caffeine extracted from a tea
bag. The amount of caffeine recovered before sublimation was 0.049g which accounted for a
2.23 percent recovery. The amount of caffeine recovered after sublimation was 0.015 g which
accounted for 0.68 percent recovery. The amount of caffeine recovered after sublimation was a
lower amount due to a lesser amount of impurities present in the final sample retrieved. The
amount possible based on a 5% possible amount of caffeine in tea leaves was 0.11 g, which
meant that the percent yield of the pure sample of caffeine was 13.64%. The melting point of the
caffeine sample was 215C which was lower than the known melting point of caffeine which is
approximately 236 C. The observed melting point may have been lower due to impurities
present in the sample.

Some of the errors that might have occurred included using unclean glassware that may have
produced side reactions, loss of product may have occurred during transferring, when caffeine
may have been lost when the sublimation tube was removed from the cold finger apparatus.

Questions:

2) The sodium chloride was added in Experiment 12A because it is a base which reacted with
acids found in the tea and formed salt. This allowed for easy extraction of the caffeine.

3) The crude caffeine isolated from the tea often has a green tinge due to the chlorophyll that is
naturally present in tea leaves.

4) A possible explanation for a lower than expected melting point observed for caffeine that is
less than 236C could be due to impurities within the caffeine sample.
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References:

"Isolation of Caffeine from Tea". Retrieved November 17, 2011 from

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~jaltig/Caffeine.pdf

Pavia, Donald, Gary Lampman, George Kriz, and Randall Engel. Introduction to Organic
Laboratory Techniques: A Microscale Approach. Belmont: Thomson Brooks, 2007.