What does impure acetanilide look like?

Crude acetanilide looks like grains of brown rice, while pure acetanilide forms shiny crystals in cold water. The crude solid is dissolved in the smallest possible amount of solvent of choice; in this case the solvent is water. Acetanilide has a much higher solubility in hot water than in cold water.

What impurities are found in acetanilide?

Acetanilide (Acetylaniline) the first aniline derivative found to possess analgesic and antipyretic properties (1,2). It is also an impurity of Acetaminophen (A161220).

What is the melting point of impure and pure acetanilide?

Physical-chemical properties of acetanilide are as follows: melting point 113.7 ºC, boiling point 304 ºC at 760 mmHg, water solubility 4 g/L at 20 ºC, Log Pow 1.16 at 23 ºC.

What is the contaminant in crude acetanilide?

Figure 3.63c shows a sample of crude acetanilide that has oiled out (the droplets are impure liquid acetanilide), and the sample is contaminated with a methyl red impurity (which appears red in the low pH of the solution, an artifact of how the crude solid was synthesized).

How do you know if recrystallization is successful?

How can we tell if a recrystallization has been a success? Sim- ple visual inspection is a good start: The crystals should have shiny surfaces and catch the light. They should appear uniform, and you should have crystals of similar structure and size.

How do you check the purity of a recrystallized compound?

After this mixture cools slowly there should be large crystals present. Dry the resulting crystals: The crystals are dried by leaving them in the aspirator and then by removing them to a glass dish to wait a while longer. The purity of the crystals can be tested by performing a “melting point determination”.

What is the Colour of acetanilide?

white
Acetanilide is slightly soluble in water, and stable under most conditions. Pure crystals are plate shaped and colorless to white.

How do you test for acetanilide?

Pour the hot mixture in a beaker containing ice cold water with constant stirring. Stir the mixture vigorously to hydrolyse excess of acetic anhydride. Once all the acetanilide is precipitated collect and filter in buchner funnel. The precipitate obtained is a crude sample of acetanilide.

What is the melting point of crude acetanilide?

The purity of the recrystallized acetanilide is assessed by measuring its melting point range. The melting point of pure acetanilide is reported as 114oC.

What does cloudiness mean in recrystallization?

The cloudiness signals initial formation of crystals, caused by the fact that addition of the second solvent results in a solvent mixture in which the solute is less soluble. Finally, more of the first solvent is added dropwise until the solution clears.

What causes impurities in recrystallization?

After the solvent evaporates, the crystals that are left behind can serve as seeds for further crystallization. Both these methods of nucleation (i.e. etching and seed crystals) cause very rapid crystallization, which can lead to the formation of impure crystals.

What happens to the impurities in a recrystallization?

The soluble impurities remain in solution after cooling and pass through the filter upon suction filtration. If insoluble impurities are present in the sample, they are removed by filtering the hot solution by gravity (Section A3. 1) before it is allowed to cool.