Simple Distillation, Gas Chromatography: Preparation of Synthetic Banana Oil
Simple Distillation, Gas Chromatography:
Preparation of Synthetic Banana Oil
Introduction
This experiment gave us the opportunity to work with a variety of new procedures as well as practice procedures that are new to us within the past few weeks of labs. Within the context of the scenario, we find that a distilling company that markets a popular banana liqueur is having problems. The banana plantation that they use to create their banana extract was hit hard by a hurricane and their reserves of extract are running low. It is our job to formulate a synthetic banana flavoring and determine whether it will work as a substitute for natural extract. The problem that the distilling company foresees is that the process used to create this synthetic extract tends to leave behind considerable amounts of starting material in the product, which is okay in small amounts, but we need to test the product to see if it is within their acceptable ranges to be used. We will be synthesizing synthetic banana oil, or otherwise known as isopentyl acetate. We will synthesize thie oil by combining isopentyl alcohol with acetic acid and sulfuric acid, and heating under reflux for one hour. After this time, we will separate and purify our product via washing with sodium bicarbonate (that separates compounds via solubility properties) and distilling (that purifies via different boiling point properties of the compounds). The reaction that occurs is modeled below:
After the product has been synthesized, it will be tested using a gas chromatograph to measure the percentages of different compounds in the product. This measurement will tell us if the product that we have synthesized could be used as an effective substitute to natural banana extract. My hypothesis for this experiment was twofold. As far as the experiment and procedures itself, I was a little concerned for how well my yield would turn out. Heating under reflux as well as the new piece of distillation
Preparation of Synthetic Banana Oil
Introduction
This experiment gave us the opportunity to work with a variety of new procedures as well as practice procedures that are new to us within the past few weeks of labs. Within the context of the scenario, we find that a distilling company that markets a popular banana liqueur is having problems. The banana plantation that they use to create their banana extract was hit hard by a hurricane and their reserves of extract are running low. It is our job to formulate a synthetic banana flavoring and determine whether it will work as a substitute for natural extract. The problem that the distilling company foresees is that the process used to create this synthetic extract tends to leave behind considerable amounts of starting material in the product, which is okay in small amounts, but we need to test the product to see if it is within their acceptable ranges to be used. We will be synthesizing synthetic banana oil, or otherwise known as isopentyl acetate. We will synthesize thie oil by combining isopentyl alcohol with acetic acid and sulfuric acid, and heating under reflux for one hour. After this time, we will separate and purify our product via washing with sodium bicarbonate (that separates compounds via solubility properties) and distilling (that purifies via different boiling point properties of the compounds). The reaction that occurs is modeled below:
After the product has been synthesized, it will be tested using a gas chromatograph to measure the percentages of different compounds in the product. This measurement will tell us if the product that we have synthesized could be used as an effective substitute to natural banana extract. My hypothesis for this experiment was twofold. As far as the experiment and procedures itself, I was a little concerned for how well my yield would turn out. Heating under reflux as well as the new piece of distillation