# 14 Synthesis of Salicylic Acid From Aspirin Tablets: Drexel Science in Motion

Drexel Science in Motion
# 14 Synthesis of Salicylic Acid from Aspirin Tablets

___________________________________________________________________________
Purpose: Acetyl salicylic acid is extracted from aspirin tablets, then is hydrolyzed to form
another white solid, salicylic acid.
Introduction:
The reaction below is for an acid-catalyzed hydrolysis. The reactant H2O is in the aqueous
HCl. The other product is acetic acid, the ingredient in vinegar. The hydrolysis of ASA takes
place so easily that a vinegary odor can sometimes be detected in an opened bottle of old
aspirin tablets.
O O
O
C C
OH HCl(aq) OH
+ CH3 COH
OCOCH3 OH
acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) salicylic acid (SA) acetic acid
Apparatus: Heating without having vapors escape into the air is

done by using an ice-cooled condenser. The water outlet drains
water from the melted ice.
The ground glass joints (14/10 Male) shown in the diagram on the
right are not needed in this experiment. The condenser can simply
be placed on an Erlenmeyer flask using a cork.
Procedure
Part A: Isolation of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) from aspirin tablets.
1. Place 50 aspirin tablets in a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask. Record the mass of acetyl salicylic
per tablet in mg and g from the bottle label. It is not necessary to crush the tablets ahead,
even if they are coated. Add about 50 mL of isopropyl alcohol and warm gently on the low
setting of your hot plate. The alcohol should not be boiling. Swirl the flask from time to
time, until the tablets have all disintegrated. This may take as long as 20 minutes.
2. Using a single coffee filter, filter by gravity into a 500 mL beaker using a clamp on a ring
stand to support the funnel. Wash the residue with a few mL of alcohol. Discard the filter
paper and contents (insoluble binder.)
3. To the alcohol solution that passes through the filter (the filtrate) add about 250 mL of
cold tap water. The acetyl salicylic acid immediately begins to crystallize because it is not
soluble in water-diluted alcohol. Cool in an ice bath for about 5 minutes and/or drop in 3 or
4 ice cubes. When a large amount of solid has appeared and it looks like the crystals have
stopped forming, filter to recover the white ASA. Wash with water to help recover any
crystals sticking to the walls of the filtering flask or beaker.
1
4. Remove just a spatulaful, dried first by rubbing on a piece of filter paper. Place in an open
plastic vial to dry. Label this. You will use this sample of ASA in to compare to your next
product, salicylic acid, also a white solid.
5. You will not have time to dry the ASA before proceeding to the next reaction in Part B.
Assuming that the yield for this extraction is 75%, find the amount of ASA isolated from the
50 aspirins. The amount of ASA in one aspirin tablet is 325 mg..
(Keep just 2 significant figures in your answer).
Part B: Hydrolysis of Acetylsalicylic Acid with HCl(aq) to produce Salicylic Acid

1. Mix the wet acetylsalicylic acid with 100 mL “muriatic acid” (20% HCl) in a 250 mL
Erlenmeyer flask. Add a stir bar. Place the ice-cooled condenser on top of the Erlenmeyer
using the cork provided. Put ice in the outside jacket of the condenser. Although the
hydrolysis takes place rather easily, it will still require around 30 minutes of gentle heating
on the low setting of a stirring hot plate (enough heat to maintain a temperature of about 50-
60oC) to assure complete conversion.
2. When the conversion has taken place you will notice an obvious thickening of the reaction
mixture. Heat for another 10 minutes, then remove from hot plate and allow to cool, using an
ice bath after the flask is no longer hot.
3. When the mixture is near room temperature, remove the condenser.

CAUTION: The reaction mixture has a very strong odor of acetic acid.
Add about 100 mL of cool water, then filter using gravity. Wash several times with cold
water to remove the acetic acid odor. Spread the material in the filter paper out on a paper
plate and store until next week. You cannot proceed with the next step until this product is
dry, since water will interfere with the esterification. Also since the samples must be dried
before their melting points are taken, that must also wait until the next week.
CAUTION:Salicylic acid is irritating to the skin, and should be handled with care.
Note: The reaction mixture may turn violet, since salicylic acid forms a violet-colored
complex with as little as a trace of iron.
4. Characterizing the Products (can be done with wet samples)

To compare the way in which acetylsalicylic acid and salicylic acid form complexes with
iron, mix a small amount of each in two different test tubes and add about 5 mL of tap water
to each. Place a small amount of ferric ammonium sulfate, FeNH4(SO4)2, in each tube.
Shake tubes and observe result. The reaction of Fe with salicylic acid produces complexes
such as the one below which cannot form easily with acetyl salicylic acid. If you do not see a
color change, inform your instructor.
O O
+
Fe(III)
C C O
OH
OH Fe
O
5. The color of the complex can be altered by changing the pH. Try adding a few drops of
2M NaOH(aq) to the test tube containing the violet colored complex. Record any change in
color.
2
Data and Results (salicylic acid)
Name(s) ________________________________________________________________
Part A Isolation of acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) from aspirin tablets.
Number aspirin tablets _____________
Mass ASA in 1 tablet (see bottle label) __________ mg or ___________ g
Mass ASA in 50 tablets: ________________ g
Mass of ASA isolated if the yield is 75%: ________________ g
Part B: Hydrolysis of ASA with HCl(aq) to produce Salicylic acid (SA)
Complex Formation:
Compound Molecular Appearance Color with Color with
Formula Fe(III) Fe(III) + NaOH
Acetyl Salicylic C9H8O4

Acid (ASA)
Salicylic C7H6O3
Acid (SA)
Question:
Assume that you started with 12 g ASA. Can you find the yield of salicylic acid by weighing
it as soon as you finish the filtering step? Explain.
___________________________________________________________________________
3
Instructor’s Guide
#14 Salicylic Acid
(Data and Results)
Part A Isolation of acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) from aspirin tablets.
Number aspirin tablets 50
Mass ASA in 1 tablet (see bottle label) 325 mg or 0. 325 g
Mass ASA in 50 tablets: 16 g
Mass of ASA isolated if the yield is 75%: 12 g
Part B: Hydrolysis of ASA with HCl(aq) to produce Salicylic acid (SA)
Complex Formation:
Compound Molecular Appearance Color with Color with

Formula Fe(III) Fe(III)+ NaOH
Acetyl Salicylic C9H8O4 white solid none none

Acid (ASA)
Salicylic Acid C7H6O3 white solid violet red
(SA)
Question:
Assume that you started with 12 g ASA. Can you find the yield of salicylic acid by weighing
it as soon as you finish the filtering step? Explain.
___________________________________________________________________________
The salicylic acid or SA is still wet. It must be dried before the mass of product can be found
and the yield calculated.
4
Instructor’s Guide
Salicylic Acid (cont’d)
Time: 1 h
Equipment and Materials per group
Items Number Comment

stir/hot plates 1
stir bars 1
thermometers 1
ice-cooled condensers 1 not essential; open flask is okay
aspirin tablets 1 bottle cheapest brand is fine
per class
250-mL Erlenmeyers 1
spoon spatulas 1
isopropyl alcohol 1 L per
class
500-mL beakers 1
100-mL graduates 1
20 mL vials 20 per
class
corks 1
funnels 1 Large funnel with large diameter
test tube racks 1
test tubes 2
coffee filters 2
fluted filter papers 2
6M HCl(aq) 1 L per 20% HCl
class
ferric ammonium sulfate 10 g per only small amounts are needed.
class
2M NaOH 1 dropper few drops/group
bottle
ice
Safety glasses 1 per
student
Rubber gloves 1 box per
class
5
Ideas/ Information
Aspirin tablets each contain 325 mg (5 grains) of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and about 50 mg
of inactive starch and cellulose ingredients. Concentrated isopropyl alcohol (91%) will not
dissolve the inactive ingredients.
If desired, this extraction could be done in a single separate lab, so that the ASA could be
dried and weighed before the next reaction. However, we have performed the extraction
many times in our lab and have found the yield to be 75% giving around 12 g ASA. This is
close enough to use in finding the overall yield in the next experiment.
6M HCl solution could be prepared by adding concentrated HCl (12 M) to a volumetric flask
and then diluting with distilled water to the mark on the flask.
Molarity mL con. HCl mL con. HCl for

mol/L for 1 L solution 500 mL solution
6 500 250
2M NaOH solution could be prepared by adding solid NaOH to a volumetric flask

and then diluting with distilled water to the mark on the flask.
Molarity g NaOH g NaOH

mol/L for 1 L solution 500 mL solution
2 80 40

# 14 Synthesis of Salicylic Acid From Aspirin Tablets: Drexel Science in Motion

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Drexel Science in Motion

# 14 Synthesis of Salicylic Acid from Aspirin Tablets

acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) salicylic acid (SA) acetic acid

Apparatus: Heating without having vapors escape into the air is

Part B: Hydrolysis of Acetylsalicylic Acid with HCl(aq) to produce Salicylic Acid

3. When the mixture is near room temperature, remove the condenser.

4. Characterizing the Products (can be done with wet samples)

Data and Results (salicylic acid)

Part A Isolation of acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) from aspirin tablets.

Number aspirin tablets _____________

Mass ASA in 1 tablet (see bottle label) __________ mg or ___________ g

Mass ASA in 50 tablets: ________________ g

Mass of ASA isolated if the yield is 75%: ________________ g

Part B: Hydrolysis of ASA with HCl(aq) to produce Salicylic acid (SA)

Acetyl Salicylic C9H8O4

Part A Isolation of acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) from aspirin tablets.

Number aspirin tablets 50

Mass ASA in 1 tablet (see bottle label) 325 mg or 0. 325 g

Mass ASA in 50 tablets: 16 g

Mass of ASA isolated if the yield is 75%: 12 g

Part B: Hydrolysis of ASA with HCl(aq) to produce Salicylic acid (SA)

Compound Molecular Appearance Color with Color with

Acetyl Salicylic C9H8O4 white solid none none

Items Number Comment

Molarity mL con. HCl mL con. HCl for

2M NaOH solution could be prepared by adding solid NaOH to a volumetric flask

Molarity g NaOH g NaOH

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Mass ASA in 1 tablet (see bottle label) mg or _ g