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The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

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Abstract Volume 28 (2023) pp 56-59

Distilling of Flavor Additives: A Flexible Distillation for the Introductory Organic Chemistry Laboratory

Phillip C. McKegg^†,§, Laurel G. Habgood^†,‡, James D. Patrone^†,‡,*

†Program in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave Winter Park, FL 32789, ‡Department of Chemistry, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave Winter Park, FL 32789, jpatrone@rollins.edu, §Midwestern University - Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, 555 31st Street Downers Grove, Illinois 60515
Received March 29, 2021. Accepted February 24, 2023.

Published: 24 March 2023

Abstract. Simple and fractional distillation of organic compounds is a fundamental purification technique integral to organic chemists. Generally, distillation is introduced in an introductory organic chemistry lab sequence. However, despite the importance and prevalence of this technique in both research and teaching labs, there are limited examples of experiments whose focus is the distillation technique in the pedagogical literature. This distillation experiment seeks to address this need by providing a flexible and affordable distillation experiment that is coupled to an analytical technique to determine either quantitative or qualitative purity. The experiment consists of various aldehyde and esters that can be paired together and separated by distillation based upon difficulty of the separation, and cost; then analyzed with an available analytical technique (GC or IR spectroscopy) to determine purity. The compounds chosen for this study are all commercially used as flavor additives in candy. The utilization of common flavor molecules aids in connecting students to the everyday relevance of organic chemistry not often addressed in the curriculum.

Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; organic chemistry; distillation; second-year undergraduate; gas chromatography

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: jpatrone@rollins.edu )

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Supporting Materials:

The supporting materials contain Instructor’s Notes including lab set-up, analysis, GC method, and representative student spectra and Instructor Resources for pre- and post-lab student materials. This information is available on The Chemical Educator website. 79 KB