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Effectiveness Of An Extraction Process And Purification Process

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In this experiment, the effectiveness of an extraction process and purification process by sublimation is observed and used to selectively separate caffeine from teabags. In the first part of the experiment, water soluble materials, including caffeine, within the teabags are extracted into hot water because the solubility of caffeine in water increases as temperature increases. This is due to the concept that increasing kinetic energy through increasing temperature will allow the molecules in the solute to break apart from the intermolecular interactions more effectively. Afterwards, the solution was filtered using a Buchner funnel to remove any solids from the liquid solution containing the caffeine. Then, the solution is allowed to cool before the caffeine to be extracted from the water by using methylene chloride, sodium chloride, and anhydrous sodium sulfate as part of a liquid-liquid extraction work up. Specifically, this liquid-liquid extraction distributes the caffeine into two solvents, methylene chloride and water, which are insoluble and immiscible to each other. By using density, solubility, and polarity differences of a solute in a pair of solvents, the organic compound of interest can be transferred from one liquid phase to the other during an extraction. Since the two solvents used are insoluble and immiscible to each other, two layers, the organic layer and the aqueous layer, will form and can be extracted to obtain the caffeine. Since caffeine is nonpolar,

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