Benzoic acid is found both naturally, in foods such as berries and milk products, and as an

added preservative in processed foods such as baked goods, candy, chewing ice cream, jams,
pickles and soft drinks. It is also found as a preservative in cosmetics and personal care items,
such as mouthwash.
E numbers: Sodium benzoate (E211) is a food additive (preservative) found in acidic foods such
as salad dressings, carbonated drinks, jams and fruit juices etc.
Potassium benzoate (E212) is used as preservative against both yeasts and bacteria in acidic
products such as soft drinks, low fat salad dressings, jams etc. It gives the whistle sound to
fireworks
Calcium benzoate (E213) is commonly used as a food preservative against yeasts, moulds, and
certain types of bacteria. It can mostly be found in fruit juice.
Ethyl-p-hydroxybenzoate (E214) and Ethyl-p-hydroxybenzoate sodium salt(E215) are used as
preservatives against both yeasts and fungi in a range of food products and cosmetic.
Properties:
IUPAC name: benzoic acid
Other names: Carboxybenzene, E210, Dracylic acid, Phenylmethanoic acid, Benzenecarboxylic
acid
Molecular formula: C7H6O2
Molar mass: 122.12 g mol1
Appearance: colorless crystalline solid
Odor: faint, pleasant odor
Density: 1.2659 g/cm3 (15 C) ; 1.0749 g/cm3 (130 C)
Melting point: 122.41 C
Boiling point: 249.2 C
Solubility: soluble in acetone, benzene, CCl 4, CHCl3, alcohol, ethyl ether, hexane, phenyls, liquid
ammonia, acetates
Crystal structure: monoclinic
Molecular shape: planar
Safety and Toxicity:
Humans are generally exposed to benzoic acid in food, which contain benzoic acid naturally, or
when benzoic acid is added as an antimicrobial agent. Exposure via inhalation in ambient or
indoor air is only marginal but it may cause irritation of the nose and throat. In humans, benzoic
acid is slightly irritating to the skin but is irritating to the eye. It has been reported to cause
rashes, asthma, inflammation of the mucus membranes of the nose, or anaphylactic shock when
administered orally, on the skin or by inhalation. The symptoms appeared shortly after exposure
and disappeared within a few hours. Skin reactions in healthy individuals were generally rare. It
may be harmful if swallowed because it can cause gastrointestinal irritation with nausea,
vomiting and diarrhea. Prolonged or repeated skin contact may cause dermatitis. Significant
amounts of benzoic acid and sodium benzoate are released into the environment, primarily into
water and soil, from their uses as preservatives in food, mouthwashes and cosmetics, although
benzoic acid occurs naturally in many plants. Benzoic acid and sodium benzoate exhibit low to
moderate toxicity to aquatic organisms.
LD50: rabbit - skin = >10 gm/kg;
rat inhalation = >26 mg/m3/1H; oral = 1700 mg/kg;
Lethal dose for humans is minimum og 500 mg/kg orally.
Aim of Research:

 Experiment 1: Synthesis of benzoic acid by reflux with sodium hydroxide

Experiment II: Determination of the purity of synthesized benzoic acid by means of
titration with sodium hydroxide
Experiment III: Determination of the purity of synthesized benzoic acid by means of
spectrophotometry
Experiment 1: analyze the results
Experiment 2: -IIExperiment 3: -IIDiscussion and Conclusion of Experiment 1:
Benzoic acid was obtained in 63.57% yield by refluxing methyl benzoate with aqueous NaOH. There
were many possible sources of error in this lab due to impurities or random errors which may lessen
our yield which is considerably low as compared to the theoretical yield. This could mostly be a
result of some product being left on the filtration paper when it was scraped off. The yield could also
be affected by imprecise measurement of the weight of methyl benzoate. TLC technique was used
for determining pureness of benzoic acid and it has showed that self-made benzoic acid was pure
because there were no traces on methyl benzoate on the TLC plate when it was put under the UV
light. Furthermore, the Rf value of the self-made benzoic acid was almost identical to the Rf value of
pure benzoic acid which also corresponds with the previous statement. The melting point of benzoic
acid obtained is 112 117 C and this was close to the literature melting point of 122C. This,
however, means that self-made benzoic acid is impure to small extent. The close resemblance of
the IR spectrum (click to show the picture) with that of literature corresponds with the previous
evidence of the purity of the synthesized benzoic acid.
Discussion and Conclusion of Experiment 2:
Results obtained from the calculations using the lingane method and the calculation of both the
average and standard deviation states that an average of 104% with a standard deviation of 13
of benzoic acid was. The percentage obtained is way higher than the expected percentage stated
in the hypothesis and this could probably be because of the presence of a little bit of the
hydrochloric acid in the sample due to the inability of a complete flush out during the
experiment. All the same the standard deviation was quite large so a conclusion can still be
made that the benzoic acid made is less than 100% pure.
Discussion and Conclusion of Experiment 3:
The average purity of own-made benzoic acid is 94.98 + 0.41 %. This value was calculated via
Concentration against Absorbance graph (equation) which was plotted in Excel. The average purity
of benzoic acid falls under the predicted range which was 93-98 %. The regression coefficient of
0.999 is very high and shows that the best-fit line is of good quality and represents the data well.
There were many possible sources of error in this lab due to impurities or random errors which
could have lessened the purity of own-made benzoic acid. The purity could also be affected by
imprecise measurement of the weight of benzoic acid as result of the rounding off numbers of the
scale. Furthermore, the calculated standard deviation confirms that the random error was very
small.
Final Conclusion
Synthesis is an important and basic procedure in organic chemistry that is necessary to learn and
understand. This experiment taught us to use many basic aspects of organic chemistry and it
included the chemistry of acids and bases and new lab techniques such as TLC, IR spectrum and

Spectrophotometry. Results from the experiments showed that benzoic acid was successfully
synthesized (in 63.57% yield), but with small impurities which could not be separated from it
(such as hydrochloric acid) Maybe add something more.
Questions?