VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

ORGANIC

CHEMISTRY

LABORATORY
SCIENTIFIC REPORT

PREPARED BY:

Kathrina S. Villanueva

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - 1

SUBMITTED TO:

Ms. Aira Marie Dimas

 VOLATILITY: DISTILLATION AND

DETERMINATION OF BOILING POINT

Objectives:

1. Separate a mixture of substances using distillation

2. Determine the boiling point of a liquid

INTRODUCTION

Volatility is the relative ease with which a substance passes from the liquid to the gaseous (vapor)

state. To escape from the liquid into the gaseous stae an individual molecule requires energy - to break

away from other liquid molecules, and to maintain the vigorous movement characteristics of a gaseous

particle. The amount of a substance that is present as gas in the space above the surface of the liquid

contained in a closed vessel is measured by its vapor pressure, which increase with temperature.

Evaporation is slow volatilization by the scape of surface molecules from the liquid into the air.

Boiling is the fast volatilization of a liquid; the turbulence observed is due to the formation of vapor

even in the body of the liquid. Boiling occurs when the vapor pressure is equal to the atmospheric

pressure, and the temperature required for this quality is called the boiling point. The less volatile a

liquid is, the higher in its boiling point.

Distillation is the process of vaporizing a liquid and converting the vapor to the liquid state by cooling.

The sample mixture (generally a solution) is heated to sustain boiling, and the vapor allowed to pass

through a cooling tube where it condenses to form the distillate. Thus distillation serves to separate the

volatile from the non-volatile component of a mixture.

If the original liquid sample contains only one volatile component, the vapor produce will consist of

this component alone, and its temperature will be near the boiling point of the latter. (At a given

pressure, the boiling point of a pure liquid is a characteristic constant and serves as a clue to its

identity, just as the melting point does for a pure solid). Mixture containing two or more main

components that are volatile give a mixed vapor, the composition of which depends on the relative

volatility of these components and their respective concentrations in the liquid phase. As distillation

proceeds, the vapor composition changes towards increasing concentration of the less volatile

component(S) as indicated by the variation of the vapor temperature.

PROCEDURE

A. Comparison of Volatility by Rate of Evaporation

Arrange 5 small clean dry watchglass in a row on the bench top. Near each, place a piece of paper

as label to indicate the compound under examination:

a) acetone C3H6O c) water H2O

b) methanol CH3OH d) 1-butanol C4H9OH e) ethyl acetate C6H802

When ready, place the two drops of the compound to be tested in the center of the watch glass, and

immediately note time on the label. When the liquid has completely disappeared, note down the time

again.

B. Distillation of Water from Dissolved Non-volatile Solids; Boiling Point Determination

Place 30 mL ordinary tap water in a 50-mL distilling flask, taking care that no liquid enters the side

arm.

Add a piece of porcelain plate to prevent bumping, and assemble the rest of the distillation

apparatus.

The tip of the thermometer bulb should be in the center of the flask neck, about 5 mm below the side

arm.

Check all connections for tightness and turn the water on the condenser.

Heat the flask contents to boiling, then adjust the flame to the condensate falls from the condenser,

and at the rate of one drop in 5 sec.

Watch the thermometer, when the volume of the distillate is 3 mL, then at each succeeding 3-mL

interval until a total of 15 mL has been collected.

The boiling range of water is the temperature indicated at the first drop and at the last drop

collected, provided the distillation has proceeded at steady rate.

MATERIALS USED
DISCUSSION

Volatility  is the tendency of a substance to  vaporize. The term is primarily written to be applied to

liquids. It is directly related to a substance's vapor pressure. At a given temperature, a substance with

higher  vapor pressure  vaporizes more readily than a substance with a lower vapor pressure. Another

term used in the experiment was evaporation. Evaporation  is slow volatilization, a type

of  vaporization  of a  liquid  that occurs from the  surface  of a liquid into a gaseous phase. In the

experiment, volatility of some organic compounds was observed. The first to evaporate was Acetone,

next was Ethyl acetate then Methanol, and last was Water.

Acetone evaporates quickly because it has a high vapor pressure. This high vapor pressure is caused

by the low intermolecular forces of attraction between its compositions. For alcohols, another factor

that affects its volatility is its molecular weight. Compounds having a low molecular weight

evaporate first. Methanol was faster to evaporate than Water. Water is extremely non-volatile this is

because of strong chemical bonds between the molecules. The most common of which

are hydrogen bonds that resist the tendencies of individual

molecules to enter the gaseous state.

The second part in the experiment was distillation; unfortunately the experiment was not done due to

some circumstances. Here is just the process of distillation and its meaning. Distillation is a method

used in separating mixtures based on differences in the conditions required to change the phase of

components of the mixture. A simple distillation apparatus consists essentially of three parts: a flask

equipped with a thermometer and with an outlet tube from which the vapor is emitted; a condenser

that consists of two tubes of different diameters placed one within the other and so arranged that the

smaller (in which the vapor is condensed) is held in a stream of coolant in the larger; and a vessel in

which the condensed vapor is collected.

To separate a mixture of liquids, the liquid can be heated to force components, which have different

boiling points into the gas phase. The substance with lowest boiling point evaporates first. The gas is

then condensed back into liquid form and collected into a receiving vessel and the product obtained is

known as the distillate. Those substances having a higher boiling point remain in the flask and

constitute the residue.

CONCLUSION

The volatility of some organic compounds was observed in the experiment and also the factors that

affect the volatility of a compound were studied. High vapor pressure results from a low boiling point

and low intermolecular forces which causes large number of molecules to evaporate quickly.

Molecular weight also was a factor, low molecular weight evaporates faster. Lastly was its hydrogen

bonding (intermolecular forces). The fact that water evaporates last, it demonstrates that a strong

hydrogen bonding between water molecules affects evaporation. To summarize it; vapor pressure,

boiling point, molecular weight and intermolecular forces (hydrogen bonding) are the causes or the

factors of the volatility of a compound. These factors causes the trend in which organic compound in

the experiment was identify to be the fastest or the slowest to evaporate.