Anas Alkouk
CHM 203-003
23 October 2014 I. Title Acetylsalicylic Acid (Aspirin) Synthesis II. Introduction The purpose of this experiment is to synthesize aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) by the esterification method using salicylic acid and acetic anhydride. This experiment was unsuccessful due to error and impurities.
Chemical Reaction of Experiment

In this reaction, the hydroxyl group (-OH) on the benzene ring of the salicylic acid reacted with acetic anhydride to form an ester, with the help of the catalyst, phosphoric acid. III. Experimental A hot water bath with 100 ml of water at 50 degrees Celsius was prepared using a 250 ml beaker and a hot place. From there, 0.251 grams of salicylic acid were weighed (MW=183.1g/mol) and placed in a dry 5 ml conical vial. Also, 0.480 mL of acetic anhydride (MW=10.9 g/mol) was added with one drop of concentrated phosphoric acid from a Pasteur pipet was added. The phosphoric acid acted as a catalyst to aid in the synthesis. Also, added a magnetic spin vane and attached an air condenser to the vial, stirred the mixture with the spin vane until the salicylic acid and phosphoric acid had dissolved, and heated mixture for 8 to 10 minutes after the solid had dissolved to complete the reaction, which made the acetylsalicylic acid and the acetic acid from the mixture of salicylic acid and acetic anhydride. For the crystallization of the acetylsalicylic acid, the vial was removed from the water bath to cool down to room temperature. After it was cooled, the air condenser was detached and the spin vane was removed with forceps. The conical vial was placed in a small beaker and allowed the vial to cool to room temperature. The acetylsalicylic acid began to crystalize when the walls of the vial were scratched with a glass rod and the cooling of the mixture in an ice water bath.