EXPERIMENT 1

ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA

I. OBJECTIVES
To gain experience in using extraction as a method of separation.
To assemble and use a simple distillation setup in the separation of volatile
substances from non-volatile materials.
To determine the boiling point of a liquid sample.
To isolate caffeine from tea and gain experience in chemical laboratory
manipulation of plant materials.

FIGURE 1: A simple distillation setup

II PROCEDURE
In this experiment, caffeine is isolated from tea leaves by preliminary extraction
with water followed by extraction into chloroform and removal of chloroform by
evaporation.
A. Extraction
i. Solid -Liquid Extraction
a)
Place 20.0 grams of tea, 12.5 grams of sodium carbonate and some
boiling chips in a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask or 400-mL beaker covered
with a watchglass.

b) Pour 175 mL of distilled water into the flask.

c)Heat the mixture and boil for 10 minutes.
d) Decant the liquid into a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask
e) Cool the aqueous extract to room temperature.
i. Liquid-Liquid Extraction
a) Pour the cooled water extract into the separatory funnel.
b) Extract the solution with a 30 mL portion of chloroform. Take care not
to shake the funnel too vigorously, but shake it enough to make sure that
caffeine is extracted into the organic solvent.
c)Transfer the chloroform layer into a 125-mL Erlenmeyer flask.
d) Repeat steps 2 and 3 using another 30 mL chloroform.
e) Combine the two chloroform extracts.
f) Add a small amount of sodium sulfate to the pooled extract, and swirl the
mixture for a few seconds.
A. Distillation
i. Filter the chloroform extract through a cotton plug into a 250-mL distillation
flask.
ii.Assemble a distillation setup as in Figure 1.
iii.
Distill the chloroform and collect about 50 mL. (Take note of the Boiling
Point Range).
iv.
Transfer the remaining solution to a preweighed evaporating dish.
v. Evaporate the chloroform to dryness over a hot water bath.
vi.
Cool the evaporating dish to room temperature and weigh.
vii.
Collect the greenish-white crystals of caffeine and save for the next
experiment.
III. QUESTIONS
A. Discuss briefly the role of the following in the isolation of caffeine:
i. sodium carbonate
ii.sodium sulfate
A. Give at least three characteristics of chloroform that make it a good extracting
solvent for caffeine.
B. How efficient is the extraction of tea leaves containing 1.0 g of caffeine with
two 30-mL portions of chloroform over that of a single step extraction (K 25C =
8.36)?
C. What are emulsions? Why do they form during extractions? How are they
minimized?
D. Why is it necessary to remove a stopper from a separatory funnel when liquid
is being drained from it through a stopcock.