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Table A.1 Summary of the reaction of samples to different solvents to test its solubility in
water
Acetic acid, benzoic acid, and sodium benzoate are the samples used in the
water solubility test and test for acidity using blue litmus paper. Based on the results, only
benzoic acid was insoluble in water. On the other hand, only sodium benzoate did not change
CH3COOH. In water solubility test acetic acid is soluble in water. The C=O and OH bonds
are polar. C=O pulls electron density away from OH; thus making H more readily available
and can easily be donated. Acetic acid is polar so it dissolves in polar water. Also, it has a pka
of 4.76 while H2O has a nominal pka of 14 at 25C. Thus, there is a significant fraction of
acetic acid which will deprotonate the acetate ion (CH3COO-) in H2O and the pH decreases
upon addition of acetic acid where the solution would contain acetic acid, water, H + and the
ionized versions of water (OH and H3O +) (Carson, 2016;Giri, 2016; Kessler, 2016). The
reaction would be
It is an acid because it donates H+ in solution. This was then indicated and supported when
(Wibbertmann, et al, 2005). The presence of C=O makes the compound polar and H+ in
water molecules are attracted to the O in C=O. Then hydrogen bonds are formed. Na+ is also
attracted to negatively charged OH- in water which makes the solution basic as indicated by
On the other hand, benzoic acid was found to be insoluble and acidic. In benzoic acid,
the COOH group is attached to the stable benzene ring. It may be insoluble in water because
of its very long carbon chain. (Wibbertmann, et al., 2005). As the length of the chain
increases, the polarity of the x`molecule decreases. However it is slightly soluble in water
because of the strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds due to its C=O and OH. The C=O and
OH make it polar which is soluble in polar water. In solvation, the H+ in water is attracted to
O in C=O and H+ is attracted to O in water. Moreover it is acidic since it can donate its H +
and this is supported by the blue litmus paper turning into red.
Table A.2 Summary of the reaction of benzoic acid and phenol to NaoH and NahCO3
Benzoic acid and phenol are the samples tested for their solubility in
sodium hydroxide and sodium hydrogen carbonate. The results showed that only benzoic acid
of the OH group. This makes benzoic acid a stronger acid than phenol because the OH bond
becomes easier to break and H+ donation is very easy. Another reason for the increased
acidity of the carboxylic acid such as benzoic acid is the resonance energy of the carboxylate
anion. The carboxylate anion has greater resonance energy than carboxylic acid because the
anion has two stable resonance contributors while the carboxylic acid has only one resonance
resonance energy. Thus, since phenol is basic compared to benzoic acid and more reactive to
An aromatic alcohol such as phenol is a strong acid but is weaker than benzoic acid.
Electron withdrawal in phenol is not as great as in benzoic acid. Phenol can lose a hydrogen
ion where the phenoxide ion is stabilized. Thus, there is electron delocalization in phenol
anion but not as great as in a carboxylate anion, where the negative charge equally shared by
two oxygen. As a result, the resonance energy of the phenolate anion is less than that of
carboxylate anion (Clark, 2004). Since benzoic acid is a stronger acid than phenol, its H+ is
readily donated when reacted with NaOH base. Phenol also loses its H+ but not as easy as
benzoic benzoic acid. Both also loses H+ when reacted with NaHCO3.
Also, benzoic acid is more acidic than phenol because the OH- is attached to a carbon
Formation of soap consists of boiling of oil in aqueous sodium hydroxide and adding sodium
chloride to precipitate the soap (Saponification, nd). An example of soap precipitation is:
Saponification is a primitive organic chemical reaction in preparing soaps. Natural soaps such
as in this experiment, are salts of fatty acids or oils that when hydrolyzed yields glycerol and
crude soap. Sodium hydroxide is heated with oil in order to hydrolyze fats. Lipids containing
fatty acid ester linkages can undergo hydrolysis catalyzed by a stronger base or acid. The
triglyceride in the acid released a single glycerol molecule where the fatty acid reacts with the
OH- in the base to form crude soap. The crude soap obtained from the saponification reaction
Soap Detergent
1. Hydrolysis Slightly bluish solution; Slightly bluish solution;
soluble soluble
2. Reaction with Acid Cloudy solution excessive bubble formation
3. Reaction with soft
When detergent is reacted with water, the result is a basic as indicated by blue
litmus paper. In this experiment, it was determined that both mixtures are of a
basic attitude with water. However, when it comes to the reactivity with an acid,
there exists an important difference between the two that is the sensitivity of
soaps to acidic conditions. When putting a soap into an acidic solution having pH
less than 4.5 it protonates the carboxylate group. The protonated soap molecule
does not have a charged head, making it insoluble in water. The soap molecules
precipitate out thereby producing a cloudy mixture that leads to the formation of
a scum. Hence, we can say soaps are not suitable for uses in acidic conditions.
References
is-the-reaction-of-acetic-acid-in-water
Clark, J (2004). The acidity of Phenol. Retrieved November 27, 2016 from
http://chemguide.co.uk/organicprops/phenol/acidity.html
the-reaction-of-acetic-acid-in-water
is-the-reaction-of-acetic-acid-in-water
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryglossary/ss/Saponification-Definition.htm