Chemistry123Lab10

Abstract
Thecaffeinecontentwasdeterminedinthecarbonateddrinks:Pepsi,Pepsione,Coke,
Dietcoke,Jolt.Byseparatingcrudecaffeinethroughextractioninaseparatoryfunnel,filtering
the extraction, evaporating the solvent, and purifying using vacuum sublimation, it was
determinedthatPepsionecontainsthemostcaffeine.
Introduction
Caffeineisoneoftheworldsmostwidelyuseddrugthathasbeensubtlyaddedtosoft
drinksfortheprimarysourceofflavour(Hirschetal.2007).Caffeineenhanceswakefulness,
alertness,concentration,andenergyhoweveritraiseshealthconcernssuchasdecreasedreaction
time,caffeineinducedheadaches,andinterruptedsleeptonamethefew(McCuskeretal.2006).
Itwasfoundthat86%ofsoftdrinkconsumerscouldnotdetectthedifferenceinflavourbetween
sodasampleshighincaffeineversuslowincaffeine(Hirschetal.2007).Methodsofextracting
caffeine include isocratic reverse phase liquid chromatography and annular centrifugal
contractors.
Themeltingpointofcaffeineis236.1degreesandtheboilingpointofdichloromethaneis
39.8degrees(CRCHandbookofChemistryandPhysics).Forthisexperiment,dichloromethane,
CH2Cl2,wasusedasthesolvent.Becauseofitslowboilingpointaswellasthesolubilityof
caffeineindichloromethane,CH2Cl2wasanexcellentsolvent.Thedifferentsolubilityproduced
two immiscible layers of liquid making the caffeine much easier to separate as the
dichloromethanewaslaterevaporatedtoextractcrudecaffeine.Thecaffeinecontentinseveral
coladrinkswasdeterminedthroughliquidliquidextraction,solventremovalviaevaporation
thenpurifiedbyvacuumsublimation,inordertocomparethecaffeinecontentineachbeverage.
ExperimentalSection
Refertoexperimentaldesignform
Results
Drink
Coke
Amount of 46.0
crude
caffeine
(mg/L)

MeltingPointC

DietCoke
176.0

CrudeCaffeine
234.1236.9

Pepsi
88.0

Pepsione
302.0

Jolt
390.0

PurifiedCaffeine
234.9236.8

Discussion
Accordingtothedatatableabove,Joltcontainsthemostcaffeinecomparedtotheother
fourcarbonatedbeverages.Cokecontainstheleastamountofcaffeinewithonly46.0mg/L,Pepsi
only has 88.0mg/L and Diet coke has 176.0mg/L. For this set of data, Pepsi one contains
302.0mg/Landjoltcontains390mg/L,makingitthemostcaffeinateddrink.However,when
comparingitwiththeoverallclassdata,itwasfoundthat,forsomegroups,Pepsionecontained
themostcaffeine.
Ineveryexperiment,itisverydifficulttobefreeoferror.Whendrainingthelower
organicsolvent,dichloromethanewithcaffeine,fromtheseparatoryfunnel,anexactextraction
wasnotmadeduetoobservationerror.Inordertodrainonlythelowersolventandnotallowthe
interphasebubblelayerout,notallofthedichloromethaneandcaffeinewasdrained.Inaddition,
whenpouringtheorganicsolventintothefilterpaper,someofthecontentcouldhaveescaped
and may have not been fully drained. Also, when determining the melting point for each
caffeinesample,becausethisisalsobasedonobservation,onesperceptionofmeltingcouldbe
differentfromanotherresultingindifferentvalues.
Inordertoobtainmoreaccurateresults,moretestscouldhavebeenperformedoneach
specific carbonated drink and an average of the results could have been used. Also high
performanceliquidchromatographycouldhavelimitedthehumanerror/mistakesthatoccurred
duringtheextractionprocess.
Using the Digimelt, the melting point of crude caffeine was determined as 234.1
236.9C. This corresponds to the melting point of caffeine, 236.1(0.2) C found in the CRC
handbook.
Conclusion
Myinitialhypothesishasaclearcorrelationandissupportedbytheresultsattainedfrom
theexperiment.Aspredicted,cokecontainstheleastamountofcaffeineandJolthasthemost
caffeine.

Bibliography
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