In: Chemistry
what happens if the solvent that you use for crystallization has a higher boiling point than the compound to be purified?
Recrystallization technique is used to purify the nonvolatile organic compounds by forming the pure crystals of compound.In recrystallization, a solution is created by dissolving a solute in a solvent at or near its boiling point. At this high temperature, the solute has a greatly increased solubility in the solvent. When the solution is later cooled, after filtering out insoluble impurities, at this cooler temperature the solute can no longer be held in solution, and forms purified crystals of solute, which can later be collected.But the boiling point of the solvent should be less than the compound to be purified as at the higher melting point the compound may melt. when the compound is dissolved in a higher boiling point solvent than its melting temperature to form recrystallization solution. it should be heated to boiling point of solvent at which the compound will degrade or melt. So no pure compound will be obtained after filtering and cooling.