The experiment conducted, isolation of eugenol from cloves, is the extraction of the essential oil. To perform this experiment cloves and water were mixed together and heated by a heating mantle in a round-bottom flask. A direct stem distillation took place, and the oil product was out aside for a week. After one week, the isolation of the eugenol actually takes place. Next the thin-layer chromatographic analysis takes place, but the experiment did not proceed to that step due to the incorrect amount of NaOH.
The isolation of eugenol from cloves is isolated from ground cloves using the technique of steam distillation, which is often used to isolate liquid natural products from plants. Essential oils are also used to produce flavoring, fragrance, and cleaning products. The compounds found in the essential oil of cloves are eugenol, eugenol acetate, and B-caryophyllene. Smaller amounts of compounds found in the essential oil of cloves are hydrocarbons, alcohol, phenol, ether, aldehyde, ketone, acid, and ester. Essential oils are volatile and have an odor. Essential oils are often flammable, soluble in alcohol and ether but partially soluble in water. The technique used was steam distillation. The steam distillation technique was used because it lowers the pressure in the flask so that it does not have to be heated at such a high temperature. High temperatures could possibly decompose organic compounds.
The first procedure used in the experiment was 25.3g of whole cloves into a 500ml round flask. Then add 150ml of water into the 500ml round flask. Connect the apparatus, funnel with water, distillation head, condenser, and receiver using grease and clips to hold the equipment together. Connect the equipment to a stand by the separatory funnel so it can stand alone. Place the 500 round flask into the heating mantle. Place two pipes in the two openings of the equipment. The...