Accelerated Chemistry – Caffeine Extraction Lab Procedure, Data and Post-Lab Questions
Name Hr
Please 1) Open this in Notability, 2) Complete the lab experience and 3) Submit to Chem Caffeine Lab
in Schoology. Thank you ☺
Materials:
Caffeinated Beverage Spoon 100 mL Graduated Cylinder
400 mL Beaker Filter Paper Funnel Balance.
40 g Salt without Iodine Syringe Hot Plate
100 mL 91% Purity Isopropyl Alcohol Plastic cup
Procedure for caffeine extraction from coffee:
Day 1:
1. Obtain an empty beaker
2. Add 40-50 mL of your beverage to the beaker. Record the volume in your data table.
3. Heat up the solution until it is close to boiling point Do not let the solution to boil because, caffeine
is sensitive to heat and it decomposes at higher temperatures. About ½ of heat dial.
4. Mix the solution for about 10 minutes
5. Add about 40 grams of salt and mix the solution until salt is completely dissolved in the solution
6. Leave the mixture to cool down to room temperature
7. Use coffee filter paper, funnel, and a plastic cup to filter the solution
8. Add 50 mL of rubbing alcohol to the filtrate collected in the plastic cup
9. Stir gently for about 20 seconds then watch the separation begin to happen
10. Leave the solution for 15 minutes (or until next class) for phase separation
Day 2:
11. The solution should be separated into two phases: Alcoholic phase on top which contains
caffeine and aqueous phase on bottom which contains water and the beverage.
12. Separate the alcoholic phase of solution from the aqueous phase using a syringe. Be careful to
collect only the alcohol phase.
13. Get the mass of a small beaker and watch glass together. Add 5 - 10 mL of the alcohol/caffeine
phase to the beaker
14. Gently heat the beaker on the hot plate, about ¼ of heat dial until all alcohol is evaporated. Be
careful not to scorch the caffeine in the beaker! Your caffeine should be white or nearly white.
15. Allow to cool to room temperature and get the mass of the beaker and watch glass again. Subtract
both mass measurements to determine the grams of caffeine extracted
Qualitative Test for Caffeine Extracted
1. After obtaining the mass of your caffeine extracted, place a small amount of the crystals in a clean,
dry test tube.
2. Add a small amount of Potassium Chlorate (KClO3)
3. Add 3-4 drops of 3 M HCl
4. Place in the warm water bath. Watch for a color change. A definitive color change indicates the
presence of caffeine.
Data Table:
Volume of beverage Used:
Mass of Sea Salt Used:
Empty Beaker and Watch Glass Mass:
Beaker, Watch Glass + Caffeine Mass:
Mass of Caffeine Extracted:
Qualitative Test Results:
Post-Lab Questions:
1. Complete the following conversions (1000 mg = 1 g):
2.14 g = mg 0.27 g = mg
6.45 g = mg 7.23 mg = g
9.14 mg = g 1.56 mg = g
2. The condensed structural formula of caffeine is shown in the background reading. However, to avoid
confusion and simplify the structure, some of the carbon atoms are not shown. This is common in
chemistry. Redraw the caffeine structure and show all of the atoms including each Carbon, Hydrogen,
Nitrogen and Oxygen atoms, properly showing all valence electrons forming bonds.
3. Determine the molecular formula for caffeine. For example, C4H10 is a molecular formula. Order the
elements this way: C, H, N, O.
4. Use the molecular formula from the previous question and determine caffeine molecular weight. Show
your calculations below.
5. What is the color of your caffeine sample? what color it should be?
6. Why is your caffeine sample’s color different?
7. How many grams of coffee did you use for the extraction?
8. How many grams of caffeine did you extract?
9. A regular dark coffee has 40 to 45% caffeine. Show your work for the calculations below.
a) What is the caffeine percentage in your coffee sample? Divide your extracted grams (8 above) by
the total grams of coffee you used (7 above) and multiply by 100.
b) Using 40% caffeine in your original sample, what percentage of caffeine should you have
extracted? Multiply .40 by the number of grams of coffee you started with.
c) Calculate your percent error: Observed – Actual X 100
Actual