preview

Lab Report : Fractional Distillation And Gas Chromatography

Better Essays

LAB REPORT I: FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION AND GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this lab is to investigate the processes that can be used to separate two volatile liquids in a mixture based on their chemical properties. This is accomplished by fractional distillation, which separates chemicals in a mixture by differentiating them by their boiling points at atmospheric pressure. Specifically in this lab, fractional distillation is used to separate an unknown mixture into its respective pure components. The components are then identified using gas chromatography, which is also telling of the purity of the extracts and success of the procedure. The procedure of this experiment was specified in lecture by Dr. Fjetland and in Gibert and Martin’s student lab manual, Experimental Organic Chemistry: A Miniscale and Microscale Approach, 6th Edition.

DATA AND RESULTS
An important note to make (which will be discussed in depth later) is that due to leaking in my fractional distillation column, I was not able to go on with analysis of my samples via gas chromatography; and my data (although similar to others’) isn’t entirely valid for the purpose of my calculations — however, I have included them as well as my observations from my own fractional distillation for the sake of reference and discussion.

Upon beginning the heating needed for the distillation, I noted that my column seemed to be taking a bit longer than my colleagues’ — but I attributed that to differences in

Get Access