I tried to follow the classic synthesis for aspirin in my home lab, but my final product is showing a persistent purple color with ferric chloride instead of the expected faint yellow. I must have leftover salicylic acid, but I followed the recrystallization steps carefully and thought my vacuum filtration was solid.
|
What could cause purple color in aspirin synthesis with ferric chloride?
|
EleanorG
Junior Member
Benjamin.G
Junior Member
That purple hit on the ferric chloride test sounds like unreacted salicylic acid sneaking through. If the color shifts violet, you’re probably carrying some phenolic material in the sample.
William16
Junior Member
I’ve chased that issue myself. I swore the recrystallization looked clean, but a few crystals kept a yellowish tint and the test kept showing color. I suspect some salicylic acid co-crystallized with the product, or the solvent mix didn’t pull everything clean.
Ava37
Junior Member
Sometimes the real bottleneck isn’t the chemistry but the isolation. Tiny amounts of water or residual solvent on the crystals can change color or how the test looks, and filtration alone can leave behind micro-contaminants that haze things.
|
|
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
|
