You have been given the task of purifying a 60mL sample of toluene. In order to

Question

You have been given the task of purifying a 60mL sample of toluene. In order to develop your plan of action, you ask about the impurities likely to be present in the sample. You are told that it contains small amounts of acetone (~10%).

a. Which technique would you choose for the purification process? Why?

b. Clearly describe the procedure you would use.

c. What simple chemical test, performed with the original sample and the purified product, will help you confirm that the acetone impurity has been removed during the purification process?

Explanation / Answer

A.

Distillation will be good technique to separate Acetone and Toluene.

Why Distillation – It based on difference in boiling point of two liquid that need to seprate. In our case there is vast difference in BP. So we can use this technique.

B.Working of distillation.

Distillation is a method of purifying liquids through differences in boiling points.The boiling point of Acetone is 56 ºC and the boiling point of Toluene is 111 ºC, then heating a mixture of Toluene and acetone at 60 ºC (above the boiling point of A but below that of B) should boil off most of Acetone, allowing you to separate the two liquids. Before we go into distillation it’s a good idea to review what exactly it means for a liquid to boil. That is, how boiling point and vapor pressure are related.

C. Simple chemical test

Nothing but boiling point. We know BP of both liquids. If you observe boiling at 56 C, it means acetone is still there and if not, you have done successful distillation.

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