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Experiments with Phenol - pt.8 Chemist |
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Nitration of Phenol: Synthesis of Picric Acid (filtration) - Part 8
I left the beaker containing picric acid overnight, then filtered it under vacuum in the morning and washed the crystals with distilled water. To minimize acid loss, I cooled the beaker and the water before filtering by placing bottles of ice next to them. At first, the filtrate was yellow and clear, but during washing it became cloudy; when the mother liquor was diluted, a small amount of picric acid precipitated.
Нитрование фенола: синтез пикриновой кислоты (фильтрование) - Часть 8 I dried the precipitate in the filter funnel, then transferred it onto filter paper and left it to dry at room temperature. An incident occurred the next day. When the precipitate had dried, I began transferring it into a jar for weighing. Suddenly, a dark red spot appeared on the paper near the crystals, followed by another spot on the table. What was happening? It turned out to be blood. I had recently injured my head while extinguishing a fire in an auxiliary building and had not even noticed. The wound had reopened - fortunately, no blood fell onto the picric acid. The product consisted of pale yellow crystals. The yield was 37.45 g, or 76.9% of the theoretical value. Purification by recrystallization would have been necessary, but I did not carry it out. The filtrate from which the precipitate had formed was refiltered, giving an additional 0.43 g of picric acid. Such a small amount was hardly worth the effort - the filtrate could just as well have been discarded. In conclusion, I would like to share one curious observation. I thought that the solution remaining after filtration showed fluorescence. This was probably due to by-products of the synthesis. To check, I would have needed an ultraviolet lamp from home. However, urgent work intervened, and I simply poured the solution into the sink. |
![]() Nitration of Phenol: Synthesis of Picric Acid (filtration) |
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