Question

In an experiment, an acidic compound is separated from the contaminant (either a basic or neutral compound) using liquid-liquid extraction.

List of organic extraction solvents available:

- Dichloromethane

- Diethyl ether

- Ethanol

- Ethyl acetate

- Hexanes

- Methanol

- 3 M HCl

- 3 M NaOH

What will be your approach to determining the best extraction solvent to use in this experiment from the possible organic solvents listed?

Answer 1

Ans. ETHYL ACETATE

The extraction solvent used in this experiment is Ethyl Acetate. Extraction of Acetic acid from its contaminants can be carried out by liquid liquid extraction by using Ethyl acetate as an organic solvent.

Ethyl acetate is a polar and an electron donor solvent. It is a neutral colorless liquid. The extraction agent is chosen on the basis of distribution coefficient, composition of the azeotrope, absorption capacity, price and availability. Basically extraction agents with low boiling points are selected.

Extraction using Ethyl acetate is excells better than the ethers, which will attract the product from the aqueous layer to the organic layer.

The consumption of energy is also low in the case of ethyl acetate. So from all the possible organic solvents Ethyl acetate is the one which is used for the extraction of the acidic compound such as acetic acid from its contaminants using liquid liquid extraction