Separation And Purification Of An Unknown/Complex Compound

Intro:
Separation and purification of an unknown/complex compound can be done by using techniques such as liquid-liquid extraction, solid-liquid extraction, recrystallization, melting point, and thin layer chromatography. In this experiment, these techniques were used to separate excedrin’s components containing caffeine, excedrin, and acetaminophen, Each component has its own chemical properties and characteristics such as polarity, reactivity, and solubility.
Knowing how to separate and purify compounds from each other is an important skill within in a lab setting. A few techniques for first initially separating compounds apart are liquid-liquid extraction and solid liquid extraction. Liquid-Liquid extraction involves using a seperatory funnel and release on varying solubities and different solids in immiscible solvents. Depending on if the compound is immiscible in water or not, the dissolved substances will have more attraction to one of the layers over the other, therefore separating the two different

Recrystallization is a method used for purification and relies on varying solubulites at different temperatures. At low temperatures the solute does not dissolves the chosen solvent, but does in the boiling solvent, and this allows the supersaturation to occur. When the solution is cooled, recrystallization forms for the pure substance, and the impurities remain in the solution. This is caused because the impurities will not fit or bond with the structure of the pure crystallized substance. Then vacuum filtration is used to separate the pure component from its impurities. Two ways of testing for purity are Melting Point Analysis, Infrared Spectroscopy, and Thin Layer Chromatography. These all rely on comparing the data of your recrystallized substances to provided pure substances of the same