Isolation of Caffeine from a Tea Bag

1043 Words5 Pages
Abstract: The ability to isolate caffeine from tea leaves was questioned and was found to be successful in this experiment. This was achieved by extracting caffeine, separating other natural substances and sublimating the existing caffeine. The weight of the caffeine isolated from the tea leaves was .0186g; which is a 33.8% recovery of the original material of caffeinated tea leaves. Introduction: This experiment’s purpose is to extract the caffeine that consists in a small portion of tea leaves. The theory of extraction is a technique used to separate organic compounds from a mixture or a solution of compounds. In this case tea leaves are made of several other natural substances, one of which is caffeine, which consist of about 5% of the weight of a tea leaf. Caffeine is an alkaloid that acts that a stimulant; in humans caffeine especially stimulates the central nervous system. The caffeine extracted will come from a solution of tea leaves and warm water; but because the solution includes several other natural substances a series of extraction steps to isolate the caffeine will be used. Tannins, which are organic compounds that can bind to alkaloids such as caffeine, are going to be taken out of the tea water using sodium carbonate. The sodium carbonate is a base, which will convert the acidic tannins into sodium salts that are highly soluble in water. Isolating the caffeine will continue once methylene chloride is added to the remaining tea solution, which increases the solubility of the caffeine. Methylene chloride can be evaporated quickly leaving the caffeine to be purified by sublimation. Materials and Methods: The tea solution was obtained when a tea bag was placed in boiling water and its liquid mix was carefully squeezed into a beaker; and eventually placed into a test tube. The tea bag originally weighed about 55mg according to the Lipton

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