Date Performed: 09 February 2015

Date Submitted: 16 February 2015

SUBLIMATION
Experiment 4

C.D.S.V. ANGELES
B.A.C. BALGOS
C.G. ELBANBUENA

ABSTRACT
The experiment is performed after the finishing experiment 2 because the greenishwhite crystals of caffeine were the sample. Weigh the watch glass first. After getting the
weight of the evaporating dish and the caffeine, heat the evaporating dish in the hot plate with
watch glass above. Use a high temperature. The crystals should stick in the watch glass. Then
when the evaporating dish got slightly charred, turn off the hot plate. Cool the watch glass
and evaporating dish on the side. Weigh the watch glass with crystals sticking in it. To get the
weight of the crystals, subtract the weight of watch glass from the weight of watch glass and
crystals. Lastly, solve for the percent yield of caffeine.

INTRODUCTION:

plants.

In the old days of the Stone Age,

people have already consumed caffeine.
They discovered that chewing the bark,
leaves and seed had caused the
amelioration of fatigue, improvement of
mental alertness and elevation of mood. In
the present time, it is commonly used by
students or people who need to stay up or
work for long hours. It is also used as cure
to apnoea in premature newborns.

Sublimation is the change of state

of a matter from solid to gas. Caffeine can
be purified through sublimation. However,
the impurities of the crude caffeine
accumulated from extraction and
evaporation do not sublime. Thus, the
sublimation will only produce pure
caffeine.

Caffeine, a xanthine alkaloid

compound, serves as a stimulant in
humans. Caffeine from tea is also called
Theine. It is considered as the "world's
most widely consumed psychoactive
substance". Most of the time, it can be
found in leaves, fruits and beans, which
serves as natural pesticides in over 60

METHOD
In this experiment, use the
greenish-white crystals of caffeine
collected from the Experiment 2. Weigh
the evaporating dish with crystals, record.
Then weigh the watch glass. Using a high
temperature, heat the evaporating dish and

put the watch glass above. The crystals

should adhere in the watch glass. Lastly,
weigh the watch glass with crystals in it
and record the mass.

DATA AND RESULTS

Weight of evaporating dish: 44.5867g
Weight of caffeine + evaporating dish
=44.6499g
=Weight of caffeine =44.6499g 44.5867g
=0.0623
Weight of watch glass: 57.4871g
Weight of watch glass + crystals
=57.4874g
Weight of crystals =57.4874g 57.4871g
=0.0003g
%Yield=

CONCLUSION
Sublimation is a phase transition
process from a solid to a gas without ever
entering an intermediate liquid phase. This
process is adopted by chemists as a
purification technique. Unlike
crystallization, most traces of solvent are
eliminated during the purification process.
Caffeine belongs to the group of alkaloids
and is used as a diuretic and central
nervous system stimulator. Through
sublimation, the crude caffeine extract
from Experiment 2 can be purified.
External heating drives the sublimation
process. The gaseous caffeine will be
separated from the less volatile impurities
and then forms crystal caffeine deposits
along the cool surface. The caffeine
deposits are then assumed to be pure
caffeine.

weight of pure caffeine

x 100
weight of crude caffeine
REFERENCE:

=0.0003g /0.0623*100 =0.4815%

DISCUSSION
The experiment was wellperformed until we happened to set the
evaporating dish (with sample) covered
with watch glass to a defective hot plate. It
took it a while to generate enough heat in
order for the sample to stick on the watch
glass, that is why we decided (with the
consent of the instructor) to transfer it to a
better one. However, too much heat caused
the glass to break and the sample was
spilled. Therefore, we weighed only a
small amount of our sample.

Organic Chemistry Laboratory

Manual. 2008 Edition. Institute of
Chemistry. University of the
Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
Lovett, Richard (24
September 2005). "Coffee: The
demon drink?". New
Scientist (2518)
Balentine DA, Harbowy ME and
Graham HN, Tea: the Plant and its
Manufacture; Chemistry and
Consumption of the Beverage in
Caffeine (1998), ed. G Spiller