Percentage Yield

What is percentage yield?

Percentage yield is used a lot in organic chemistry to give an idea of how much product is made.

actual yield/theoretical yield x 100

Percentage yield is based solely on the product that you want to make. It doesnt take into account any
other products, if any, that are made.

Percentage yield is based on the experiment that you are doing on a particular day in the laboratory. The
actual yield is how much in grams you made of that product. This means if two people do the same
experiment, they could get a different percentage yield depending if they made any mistakes while
transferring the product etc.

Contrast this with atom economy, which you can work out before you even do the experiment as it is
based on molecular weights and the chemical equation, which never change. Therefore, the atom
economy of a reaction is always the same.

The theoretical yield is the maximum amount you could make if everything goes perfectly. It is based on
the number of moles of reactant that you started with. The theory is that you cant make more moles
than you started with.

Calculations
When you are doing these calculations your aim is to calculate the theoretical yield. The actual yield is
given in the question.

Example

C2H5OH C2H4 + H2O

A chemist reacted 9.2g of ethanol and obtained 4.2g of ethene. What is the percentage yield?

Actual yield: C2H4= 4.2g

Theoretical yield:

Moles of ethanol = 9.2/46 = 0.2

therefore maximum moles of ethene possible = 0.2 moles (as 1:1 ratio)

Maximum amount of ethene (theoretical yield) = 0.2 x 28 = 5.6g

 Percentage yield = 4.2/5.6 x 100

= 75%

Like any calculation involving chemical equations watch out for the ratios. In the above example the
ratio was 1:1 but it could be anything.

Biggest mistake students make is dividing the two numbers given in the question! Thats too easy,
dont do this, you have to calculate the theoretical yield.

Remember that the yield relies upon how much product you obtain. So for example, if you are doing a
reaction that involves a precipitate forming, it is very easy for some of the solid to be left in solution. The
percentage yield will be lower than expected.

Example

You could also be asked to do this type of calculation backwards.

A student is asked to prepare 9.45g of calcium oxide (Mr = 56) from calcium carbonate (Mr = 100). The
percentage yield is 37%, how much calcium carbonate is needed?

CaCO3 CaO + CO2

Theoretical yield (calcium oxide):

Percentage yield = actual yield/theoretical yield x 100

0.37 = 9.45/theoretical yield

theoretical yield = 9.45/0.37 = 25.54g

theoretical moles of calcium oxide = 25.54/56 = 0.46

Starting amount (calcium carbonate):

moles of CaCO3 = 0.46 (1:1 ratio with CaO)

starting mass = 0.46 x 100 = 46g