CHEM 351 Chapter Notes - Chapter 0: Common Application, Separatory Funnel, Dichloromethane

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM 351
• Professor: Ian Hunt

Document Summary

In a chemical sense, extraction is the general term for recovery of a substance from a crude solid or a solution by bringing it into contact with a solvent that preferentially dissolves the desired material. In the isolation of organic compounds from a plant source, extraction of the dried leaf, bark or wood is commonly the first step. In synthetic organic chemistry, a reaction product is frequently obtained as a solution or a suspension in water, along with inorganic and organic by-products. By shaking the aqueous mixture with a water-immiscible organic solvent such as ether or dichloromethane, the product is transferred to the organic layer and can then be recovered by evaporation of the solvent. The extraction of a compound from an aqueous solution using an organic solvent, or vice versa, is an equilibrium process governed by the solubilities of the substance in the two phases.