Hi, I am currently taking organic lab in college and our first experiment is Iso

Question

Hi,

I am currently taking organic lab in college and our first experiment is Isolation of the Active Ingredient in an analgesic Drug. We chould be using tylenol but we're supposed to write the lab report before class.

This is a two step lab in which we will extract the active ingredient of an analgesic drug by mixing a powdered tablet (tylenol) with a solvent (methanol) and then using the filtration technique using a Pasteur pipet packed with alumina (finely ground Al2O3)

My question is what is the reaction equation for this experiment?

Explanation / Answer

Note that there is no "reaction" this is an extraction

So we simply exploit the properties of each group

Tylenol (R) has the main chemical, Paracetamol = Acetominophen

This is essentially a base, since pKa = 9.5 approx

So addition of a strong acid, will neutralize NH group with NH2+

the methanol helps to form the ORGANIC layer

the Aquoeus layer, which is mainly water, will also have some Paracetamol residue

most of the acetominophen will remain in the methanol, not only due to polarity but also due to the organic layer interactions.

The main reaction is:

C8H9NO2(s) + CH3OH(l) = C8H9NO2(aq, orgnic layer) + CH3OH(aq)

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