In: Chemistry
Suppose you have 300 ml of an aquesous solution that contains 30 g of malononitrile. To isolate malononitrile from this aqueous solution you decide to use ether as the organic solvent in your liquid-liquid extraction. The solubility of malononitrile in either at room temperature is 20.0g/ 100mL and in water is 13.3g/100mL. Consider the following:
a. How many grams of malononitrile can be isolated with three extractions using 100 mL of ether each time?
b. How many grams of malononitrile can be isolated with one extraction using 300 mL of ether?
The partition coefficient
a.
After first extraction, let x g comes into ether layer. 30-x gram will remain in aqueous layer.
After second extraction, let x g comes into ether layer. 20-x gram will remain in aqueous layer.
After third extraction, let x g comes into ether layer. 13.33-x gram will remain in aqueous layer.
Total grams of malononitrile that can be isolated with three extractions using 100 mL of ether each time is
grams
b.
After 300 mL ether extraction, let x g comes into ether layer. 30-x gram will remain in aqueous layer.
grams
Hence, 18 grams of malononitrile can be isolated with one extraction using 300 mL of ether.