Saponification Lab

Abstract: For the first part of this lab we refluxed different Carboxylic acids and alcohols in the presence of a acid catalyst in order to form Esters by Fischer Esterification. These Esters had different pleasant smells that we then evaluated. In the second part of the experiment, we broke the ester bonds of a triglyceride in order to form glycerol and carboxylate salts. This process is known as Saponification because it produces amphiphilic molecules that allow soap to remove dirt from the surface of things and dissolve it in water. We used Crisco as our triglyceride and were able to produce a soap by breaking the ester bonds with NaOH.

Introduction: In the first part of this experiment we will be seeing how different combinations of carboxylic acids and alcohol
Test tube A violently bubbles when we added it to the water bath. We also observed a color change from clear to dark red in test tubes C, D, and E after they had been heated for 10 mins. The smells produced were the smells that we were expecting to obtain, so we considered this portion of the experiment to be a success. In the Soaponification section of the lab, we were able to produce 140mg of soap from the 245.5mg of Crisco. That is a percent yield of 57%. This was most likely due to us losing some of the soap during the vacuum filtration and also leaving some in the hursche funnel before weighing. When we mixed our experimental soap with DI water and shook the vial, we observed small bubbles and some suds. When CaCl2 crystals were added, the suds and bubbles disappeared, and the soap became suspended in the water. When we added the phosphate detergent to water and shook it, we observed lots of bubbles and suds. These bubbles were not disturbed at all by the addition of CaCl2 crystals, and actually seemed to get