University of the Philippines Visayas

Tacloban College
Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Name: Nikko Gabriel B. Aquino
Date Performed: October 10, 2014
Group No. IV
Date Submitted: October 21, 2014
Laboratory Schedule: TF 1:00 - 4:00 P.M.
Rating:
TITREMETRIC DETERMINATION OF ASPIRIN
EXPERIMENT NO. 6
OBJECTIVES:
1. To evaluate the purity of an aspirin tablet;
2. To develop the techniques for the proper dilution of a solution to a
definite volume, and the use of a transfer pipette.
RESULTS, CALCULATIONS and DISCUSSIONS:
A 0.3 g aspirin tablet was heated gently with 30.0 mL of 0.426210062 M
sodium hydroxide solution. The aspirin reacts according to the equation:
C6H4(OCOCH3)COOH + 2NaOH C6H4(OH)COONa + CH3COONa + H2O

After cooling, the resulting solution was titrated against 0.448518382 M

hydrochloric acid to determine the amount of unreacted sodium hydroxide. A
titre of 4.8 mL, 4.7 mL, and 4.8 mL was obtained. Data obtained from the
experiment is summarized below:

TRIAL

WEIGHT OF ASPIRIN SAMPLE

0.300 g

0.300 g

0.300 g

VOLUME OF 0.5 M NaOH USED

30 mL

30 mL

30 mL

VOLUME OF SAMPLE ALIQUOT

50 mL

50 mL

50 mL

FINAL VOLUME OF HCl

45.2 mL

40.5 mL

35.7 mL

INITIAL VOLUME OF HCl

50 mL

45.2 mL

40.5 mL

NET VOLUME OF HCl

4.8 mL

4.7 mL

4.8 mL

To come up with the percent by mass of aspirin, we have followed the

systematic calculations presented below:
A. The Amount, in mol, of Sodium Hydroxide Initially Added to the
Aspirin
0.426210062 M NaOH (0.03 L NaOH) = 0.012786301 moles NaOH
However, since we are only dealing with the 50 mL of the the 250
mL aliquot that utilized the 0.3 grams of aspirin and the 30 mL of
NaOH, we should get the proportion of the aliquot used. That is
(50:250) or 1/5. So,
0.012786301 moles NaOH (1/5) = 0.0025572602 moles NaOH
B. The Amount of Hydrochloric Acid Used
a. Balanced Equation for the Titration of HCl Against the Excess
NaOH
HCl + NaOH NaCl + H2O
b. Amount of HCl Needed to Neutralize the Excess NaOH
T1. n(HCl) = 0.448518382 M HCl (0.0048 L HCl) =
0.002152888234 moles HCl
T2. n(HCl) = 0.448518382 M HCl (0.0047 L HCl) =
0.002108036395 moles HCl
T3. n(HCl) = 0.448518382 M HCl (0.0048 L HCl) =
0.002152888234 moles HCl
C. The Amount of NaOH in Excess After Reaction with the Aspirin
From the equation presented above, since 1 mol of NaOH reacted
with one mol of HCl, we can calculate the amount of NaOH that
reacted with HCl, which was the amount of NaOH in excess after the
aspirin reaction.
n(NaOH)excess = n(HCl)

T1. n(NaOH)excess = 0.002152888234 moles NaOH

T2. n(NaOH)excess = 0.002108036395 moles NaOH
T3. n(NaOH)excess = 0.002152888234 moles NaOH
D. The Amount of Sodium Hydroxide that Reacted with the Aspirin
n(NaOH)reacted = n(NaOH)initial - n(NaOH)excess
T1. n(NaOH)reacted = 0.0025572602 moles NaOH - 0.002152888234
moles NaOH
T1. n(NaOH)reacted = 0.000404371966 moles NaOH
T2. n(NaOH)reacted = 0.0025572602 moles NaOH - 0.002108036395
moles NaOH
T2. n(NaOH)reacted = 0.000449223805 moles NaOH
T3. n(NaOH)reacted = 0.0025572602 moles NaOH - 0.002152888234
moles NaOH
T3. n(NaOH)reacted = 0.000404371966 moles NaOH
E. Amount of Aspirin in the Tablet
From the equation presented above on the reaction between the
sodium hydroxide and the aspirin, the chemical equation concludes that
1 mol of aspirin is equal to 2 moles of NaOH. So, we have:
1 mol aspirin = 2 mol NaOH
mol NaOH

T1.

= 0.000202185983 mol aspirin

T2.

= 0.0002246119025 mol aspirin

T3.

= 0.000202185983 mol aspirin

F. Percent by Mass of Aspirin

After all the data needed to compute for the percent by mass of
aspirin, we can now compute for the purity of aspirin guided by the
formula:
% by mass =

* 100

a. Mass of Aspirin
Since, we only have the moles of aspirin at the moment, we
need to convert first mol aspirin into its mass by multiplying the
number of moles to its molar mass which is 100 grams per mole.
T1. 0.000202185983 mol aspirin (180 g/mol)
T1. = 0.036393476 g aspirin
T2. 0.0002246119025 mol aspirin (180 g/mol)
T1. = 0.40430142 g aspirin
T3. 0.000202185983 mol aspirin (180 g/mol)
T1. = 0.036393476 g aspirin
b. Percent by Mass
Since 0.3 grams of aspirin were used in the 250 mL solution
prepared for the experiment and we only used 50 mL aliquot per
trial, we should multiply 0.3 g by the (50/250) portion of the
solution. So,
0.3 g aspirin tablet (1/5) = 0.06 grams aspirin tablet
T1.

* 100 = 60.65579333 % by mass

T1.

T1.

* 100 = 67.38357 % by mass

* 100 = 60.65579333 % by mass

G. Average Percentage
To come up with the one justified answer, we took the average
percentage coming from the three computed percent by mass of aspirin
in every trial. And we get:
average % =
average % = 62.89838555 % 62.9 %
CONCLUSION:
Being a drug widely known for its analgesic, antipyretic, and antiinflammatory properties, aspirin is a compound derived from two acids
namely acetic acid and salicylic acid in which to be able to analyze its
composition or the amount of acetylsalicylic acid, the hydrolysis of the
sample by alkali into neutrality is required.
Following the procedures in the analysis of aspirin, we have come up to
the percent by mass of pure acetylsalicylic acid in the asprin tablets in the
three trials that came in different values: 60.66%, 67.38%, and 60.66%
respectively. And the average percentage resulted to 62.9 %. Therefore, from
the data gathered and computed, the experimenter concludes that the
pure acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) present in the 300 mg tablet of aspirin is
approximately 62.9%.
Possible sources of error in the experiment include the faulty titration and
standardization of solutions, faulty weighing of samples that can lead to over
titration and wrong computations, and incomplete hydrolysis of sample.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS:
1. A more dilute solution of NaOH on the titration would correspond
to a lower concentration threby resulting to a lower molar value.

With this this thing, a small value of titer will also be needed to
neutralize the base, therefore, the titration will utilize a smaller
volume of HCl (acid).
2. (mass of aspirin/0.25) = 0.9
mass of aspirin = 1 gram
1.0 g (1 mol/180 g) = 0.005555555556 mol aspirin
0.005555555556 mol aspirin (2 mol NaOH/1 mol aspirin)
= 0.01111111111 mol NaOH
0.01111111111 mol NaOH = mol NaOH reacted with aspirin (X)
0.5 M HCl (0.01 L HCl) = 0.005 mol HCl
1 mol NaOH = 1 mol HCl
0.005 mol NaOH = 0.005 mol HCl
0.005 mol NaOH mol of NaOH that reacted with HCl (Y)
mol NaOH used in Hydrolysis = A + B
mol NaOH used in Hydrolysis = 0.01111111111 mol + 0.005 mol
Mol NaOH used in Hydrolysis = 0.01611111111 mol NaOH
0.01600000000 mol (1L / 0.50 mol) = 0.03222222222 L NaOH
0.01600000000 mol (1L / 0.50 mol) = 32.2 L NaOH
REFERENCES
1.
D.A. Skoog, D.M. West, F.J. Holler and S.R. Crouch, Fundamentals of
Analytical Chemistry, 8thed. California: Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning,
2004.
2.
D.C. Harris, Quantitative Chemical Analysis, 7th ed. New York: W.H.
Freeman and Company, 2010.
3.
R.A. Day, Jr. and A.L. Underwood, Quantitative Analysis, 6th ed. New
Jersey:Prentice-Hall International, Inc., 1991.