Synthesis of Soap - Lab Report Example

Your Module Synthesis of Soap The primary goal of this work is to synthesize soap from fat using the reaction below:Figure 1: Synthesis of soap (Clayden, et al., 1375). A round bottom flask equipped with a magnetic stirrer was charged with 15 g of shortening, 15 ml (45%, 6.75 g, 0.12 mol) of potassium hydroxide. 15 ml of ethyl alcohol was added to the flask and the reaction mixture was heated on a water bath. Upon heating color change from colorless to slight yellow was observed. A 2 hoses reflux condenser was attached to the heated flask and the mixture was allowed to reflux for 15 minutes.

The heat was turned off and the system was cooled. The reaction mixture was poured into a beaker containing saturated sodium chloride. Formation of soap as a solid precipitate was observed. With time the obtained product turned gelatinous which was separated from extra liquid using filtration on a Buchner funnel. The described operation afforded soap as a colorless gelatinous solid. Because the obtained soap is a potassium salt it is expected that it will be a viscous liquid. Knowing the exact composition of the used grease it could have been possible to determine the theoretical quantity of the product.

But, it is expected to be around 16 g. Regarding IR spectrum of the studied compound signals in the regions 1000-1500 cm-1, 1500-2000 cm-1 corresponding to C-O and C=O vibrations respectively. The rest should be in the “fingerprint’ region.To conclude with, up until now saponification is the most widely used method of soup production. Industry takes advantage of the same reaction but conducts it in larger scale. Glycerol by-product found its applications in food industry, pharmaceuticals and etc.

Works citedClayden, Jonathan, Greeves, Nick, Warren, Stuard, and Peter Wothers, Organic chemistry. Shanghai: C&C Offset Printing Co., Ltd., 2001. Print.