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4/6/17
CHEM-109
Final Lab
Introduction:
determining the percent of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in a single tablet. This data was
collected using two different methods, and the ultimate goal was to compare the
values obtained by each. The first half of the experiment used volumetric analysis
aspirin tablet and the presence of an indicator determined the equivalence point.
The volume of NaOH dispensed is thus equal to the volume of acid in solution. The
the process by which radiation from the ultraviolet and visible regions of the
FeCl3/KCl/HCl solution and salicylate allows the complex formed by combining the
two to be used in determining the percent of ASA present in an aspirin tablet. These
two methods were both used to analyze aspirin and its concentration of ASA.
Results:
In one part of the experiment, aspirin tablets were analyzed using dilutions
and spectrophotometry to determine the absorbance of the samples and thus the
concentration of ASA per tablet. The standard curve (Figure 3) was used to obtain
the concentration of the diluted samples using the absorbance for each dilution. The
results of the analysis are summarized in Table 1. The average mass % was
ASA in a single tablet was about 308 mg. The absorbance of each solution is the
measure of the iron (III) salicylate product present in each (Balanced net ionic
equation: C7H5O3- + Fe3+ FeC7H5O32+) The plot shown in Figure 2 of the mole
fraction of Fe and the amount of product shows a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio for the
iron-salicylate complex.
The two different methods used in this experiment yielded different values for
the mass percent of ASA in an aspirin tablet. The titration showed there was an
average 329 mg of aspirin per tablet, which averaged about 83.5% of the tablets
mass. Using spectrophotometry, the wavelength used to find the absorbance was
the wavelength of maximum absorbance for the dilution with the greatest
concentration, which was 527 nm. This method showed an average of about 308 mg
per tablet, resulting in an average mass percent of 77.93%. The Bayer aspirin
brand that we used listed that a single tablet contains 325 mg of ASA per tablet.
Given that the mass of an aspirin tablet was always found to be between 0.39 and
0.40g, the expected mass percent of ASA would range from about 81-83%. The
value of the titration was much closer to the value of what the tablets are
advertised to contain, and were within 5% of the bottle assay. The results of the
spectrophotometry were also within the 5% assay, but were not as close to the
expected value.
percent of ASA in a single aspirin tablet, each advantageous for different reasons.
The titration involved the use of an indicator and NaOH to titrate the aspirin solution
and determine the volume of ASA. NaOH cant be used as a primary standard
because it is hygroscopic, meaning that it attracts moisture from the air and can
react with carbon dioxide, forming sodium carbonate. Consequently, the
concentration cannot be relied upon as it may vary over time if it is not carefully
contained. One advantage of using a titration is that the buret and careful titrating
allows for a high degree of accuracy and precision. This method is also
disadvantageous because when performing the titration, the reaction may not be
instantaneous. It may be difficult to determine the exact end point, thus the exact
and easy analysis. However, the accuracy and sensitivity of the instrument may
vary based on other factors that may influence the absorption of a substance.
I have more confidence in the titration results because there was a much
smaller deviation in the mass of aspirin in a single tablet, showing greater precision.
The large average deviation from the spectrophotometry could be due to the fact
that the concentrations were derived from the standard curve for each individual
dilution and not through any direct measure. One inherent error in the
spectrophotometry procedure is that a single tablet was used for each of the
dilutions, and only three tablets in total. This small sample size increases the
possibility of an issue one of the tablets skewing the data, regardless of the
the volume of ASA in the tablet, this could result in the underestimation of its
volume, thus decreasing the final average mass percent. A question raised by the
results is whether or not the differences in values came from the use of different
methodologies used or if they were due to natural variation in the tablets of aspirin
themselves. Because so few tablets were used in this experiment, the investigation
could be taken further by using a greater number of tablets for each method and