Titration of Aspirin

Brandon Coulter

5/1/2011

Introduction: The purpose of this lab was to determine the amount of acid in an aspirin tablet, by using Back Titration. We did this by dissolving the aspirin withNaOH, then titrating the excess base with HCl. By using a pH meter we are able to determine the equivalence point and from that we can determine the exact amount of acid needed to be added to the base in order for it to reach its equivalence point. The ratio of moles of acid to moles of base is 1:1, so we can use this ratio to determine the molarity of the Acetylsalicylic acid thats in the aspirin. After finding the moles of the NaOH and HCl we found the difference, and that difference was the molar amount of Acetylsalicylic acid. We then changed moles of Acetylsalicylic Acid to grams of Acetylsalicylic acid.

Materials: y Mortar and pestle y Buret y Ring stand y Buret Clamp y Deionized water y 250mL Erlenmeyer flask y .25M NaOH, 50mL y .5 M HCl, 60mL y Aspirin Tablet (2) y pH indicator/pH meter

Procedures: 1. Grind 2 aspirin tablets into powder using the pestle and mortar. 2. Add the aspirin to the flask (use diH2O to get all the aspirin if necessary) 3. Dissolve the aspirin using 50.0 mL of 0.25 M NaOH 4. Titrate the excess base using the .5 M HCl 5. Dispose of the solutions and clean the glassware and work area. Safety: Always wear goggles, gloves, and closed toed shoes because HCl and NaOH are toxic, corrosive and will cause damage to eyes skin clothing. Data:

mL of HCl added 0 2.01 3.98 6.03 8.01 9.97 11.03

pH of solution 12.80 12.67 12.41 11.81 10.03 6.25 5.68

Equivalence point is: 8pH and 9mL of HCl .25M NaOH=50mL .5 M HCl=9mL

Analysis: .25M X .05=.0125mol NaOH .5M X .009L=.0045 mol HCl .0125mol NaOH - .0045mol HCl=.008mol Acetylsalicylic acid .008mol x molar mass of Acetylsalicylic acid (180.16g)= 1.4g 1.4g/2 tablets= .72g=720mg Correct answer is 325mg % Error= correct answer-my answer was x 100 % Error=325mg-720mg/325mg x 100 % Error=122%

Conclusion: Our Conclusion for the amount of Acetylsalicylic acid in 1 tablet of aspirin was 720mg and the correct result was 325mg. this resulted in a 122% percent error, and the reason for such a high percent error was due to a few mistakes made during lab.You can see in the graph that the pH curve for the solution was not 100% accurate because we added too much HCl to the base solution. If we had added less HCl to the base each time we added some we would have had a more accurate reading of the equivalence point, which is a significant factor that determines the data collected. Our group expected the pH level for the solution would be a little above 7pH, because we had a Strong Base/Strong Acid titration. Our result was a pH of 8 that gave us 9mL of HCl needed to reach the equivalence point.