University of Bahrain

College of Science
Department of Chemistry

Experiment # 1

Isolation and Purification of Caffeine From Tea Leaves

CHEMY 322

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Aims/Objectives:
 To extract caffeine from the tea leaves.
 To identify the isolated component by determining the melting point and using TLC.
 Purification of the crude caffeine by recrystallization.

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 Extraction Methods
 Extraction is the physical process by which a compound (or mixture of compounds) is transferred from
one phase to another.

 Water-soluble components in the tea leaves are transferred from a solid phase, the leaves, into a liquid
phase, the hot water (solid-liquid extraction).

 In this experiment, an organic solvent is to extract caffeine from tea. This process is known as liquid-
liquid extraction.

 This allows the isolation of single components from a mixture.

 The physical process that rules liquid-liquid extraction is known as solvent-solvent partitioning, or the
distribution of solutes between a pair of solvents.

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 Introduction
 Tea and coffee have been popular beverages for centuries.
 Tea contain caffeine, a stimulant.
 It also stimulates respiration, the heart, and the central nervous system.
 It has diuretic properties (promotes urination).
 Caffeine belongs to a large class of compounds known as alkaloids.
 Caffeine is natural product (plant origin) that contain basic nitrogen.
 It has a bitter taste and complex structure, and usually have physiological activity.
 Some important examples of alkaloids are nicotine, cocaine and morphine etc.

1 ounce is 28.349 grams 4

 Isolation of Caffeine
 Caffeine can be extracted easily from tea bags.
 Tea leaves contain also tannins, which are acidic.
 Tea leaves also contain a number of colored compounds and some undecomposed chlorophyll (soluble in
dichloromethane).
 In order to ensure that the acidic substances remain water soluble, and that the caffeine remain as the free
base, sodium carbonate, is added to the extraction medium.
 The solubility of Caffeine is increasing with increase in water temperature.
 The solubility of caffeine in water is 2.2 mg/mL at 25 °C, 180 mg/mL at 80 °C, and 670 mg/mL at 100
°C.
 It is quite soluble in dichloromethane, the solvent used in this experiment to extract the caffeine from
water.
 The procedure one would use to make a cup of tea—simply "steeping" the tea with very hot water for
about 7 min—extracts most of the caffeine.
 Caffeine is a white, slightly bitter, odorless, crystalline solid.
 The color of crude caffeine from water extracts is not white due to some other chemicals from tea leaves.
 When the brown aqueous solution is subsequently extracted with dichloromethane, primarily caffeine
dissolves in the organic solvent.
 Evaporation of the solvent leaves crude caffeine, which on recrystallization or sublimation yields a
relatively pure product. 5
 Isolation of Caffeine

 Caffeine is a minor constituent of tea, coffee, and other natural plant materials.
 The major constituent of tea is cellulose which is not water soluble. Caffeine is water soluble and some
tannins and gallic acid.
 The caffeine can then be extracted from the water by methylene chloride/DCM in almost pure form.
 Some chlorophyll is often extracted at the same time.

Tea leaves are not extracted with DCM directly? Why we use hot water to extract caffeine?
Hot water causes the tea leaves to swell and is more efficient extraction solvent.
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 Crystallization of Caffeine
 To recrystallize the caffeine is dissolved hot acetone (5 mL)
 To the hot solution, add ligroin/petroleum ether to the solution until a faint cloudiness appears.
 Set the flask aside and allow it to cool slowly to room temperature.
 This mixed solvent method of recrystallization depends on the fact that caffeine is much more soluble in
acetone than ligroin, so a combination of the two solvents can be found where the solution is saturated in
caffeine (the cloud point).
 Cool the solution containing the crystals and filter the solution by vacuum filtration.

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 Instructions for Report Writing and Questions
Two students (same two lab partners) will submit one report.
 The names of the partners should be written clearly in the report.
Write a short report discussing the questions below:
Marks distribution:
• Title/aims (1 mark),
• Introduction (2 marks)
• Procedure ( 2 marks)
• Results (2 marks)
• Discussion (2 marks)
• Conclusion (1)
• References/Question/answers