Methyl cinnamate is an ester used to add strawberry flavour to foods - Scottish Highers Chemistry - Question 3 - 2015
Question 3
Methyl cinnamate is an ester used to add strawberry flavour to foods. It is a naturally occurring ester found in the essential oil extracted from the leaves of straw... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Methyl cinnamate is an ester used to add strawberry flavour to foods - Scottish Highers Chemistry - Question 3 - 2015
Step 1
Complete the diagram to show an apparatus suitable for carrying out this extraction.
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Answer
To complete the diagram, the apparatus should include a steam generator connected to a flask containing shredded strawberry gum leaves. Additionally, a condenser must be attached to allow the steam to condense and collect the essential oil. The diagram should clearly show the pathway for steam to pass through the plant material and then for the condensed steam and essential oil to be collected.
Step 2
The essential oil extracted is a mixture of compounds. Suggest a technique that could be used to separate the mixture into pure compounds.
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One effective technique for separating the mixture of compounds in the essential oil is fractional distillation or chromatography. Fractional distillation allows for the separation of components based on their different boiling points, while chromatography separates compounds based on their movement through a stationary phase.
Step 3
Show, by calculation, that cinnamic acid is the limiting reactant.
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First, calculate the moles of cinnamic acid and methanol:
Since the reaction ratio is 1:1, we find that cinnamic acid is the limiting reactant because there are only 0.044 moles available, compared to 0.0625 moles of methanol.
Step 4
(A) Calculate the percentage yield.
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Theoretical yield of methyl cinnamate from 0.044 moles of cinnamic acid = 0.044 moles × 162 g/mol = 7.128 g.