Which solvent is most suitable for recrystallizing acetanilide

A good solvent for recrystallization is one that your compound not very soluble in at low temperatures, but very soluble in at higher temperatures. In this case, ethanol is just too soluble. Polar compounds are soluble in polar solvents such as water, methanol, and ethanol.

Non polar compounds are soluble in non-polar solvents such as hexanes and diethyl ether. The speed at which you allow a saturated solution to cool affects the size of the crystals that form! This makes an important different- if you have smaller crystals, they are more likely to clog a filter! Everyone likes to get out of orgo lab as soon as possible, but a clogged filter could add a good minutes to your procedure. So how do you remove it?

By filtering the liquid- the black pepper will get stuck in the filter paper, and you can continue to recrystallize the liquid solution as normal. This happens sometimes. The best way to get product to crash out is to add a seed crystal. This is just a small amount of pure material. Your TA usually has some handy or see another lab group that finished the experiment before you. You can also try scratching the sides of the container with a stirring rod.

This works because you pick up a small amount of solvent which evaporates and leaves behind a small amount of pure product. Remember that there will still be some of your product dissolved in your mother liquor after the first recrystallization. So if you wanted to, you can allow some of the mother liquor to evaporate and collect more product.

The first is Distillation, which only can be utilized when the product is liquid phase. It is really easy to tract on the process by doing this way. Recrystallization is the second technique, and it is used to purify solids with a small amound of impurities. Unforturnitely, Thin Layer Chromatography can not be utilized when using this method. The third one is Colomn Chromatography. It can be used to purify any mixture of solid and liquid with the difference of polarity.

Thin Layer Chromatography is utilized to monitor the separating process, to diffirenciate the good separation and poor separation. Learn more. What would be the most suitable solvent for a single-solvent recrystallization?

Ask Question. Asked 7 years ago. Active 3 years, 10 months ago. Viewed 28k times. Improve this question. Geoff Hutchison Siddart Fredrick Siddart Fredrick 2 2 gold badges 4 4 silver badges 7 7 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. So yes, it should be possible to rank the suitability, but that requires: knowing the solubility at high temperature i.

Firstly you could dissolve your acetanilide in hot ethanol and add hexane dropwise keeping the solution hot until you detect some cloudiness then leave it to cool. Secondly suspend your acetanilide in hot hexane and add ethanol dropwise keeping the solution hot until it dissolves then leave it to cool. Scratching the interior surface of the flask can help creating nucleation sites, or the addition of a seed crystal of pure acetanilide if you have one. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.

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