Scribd
Upload
27K views

Applications of Critical Solution Temperature

This document discusses how the presence of impurities affects the critical solution temperature (CST) of mixtures. It provides examples of how specific impurities - sodium chloride and sodium oleate - change the CST of the phenol-water system. Sodium chloride, which is soluble only in water, raises the upper CST. Sodium oleate, which is soluble in both phenol and water, lowers the upper CST. The document also describes experiments to determine the CST of the phenol-water system and to examine the effect of sodium chloride concentration on the CST. The CST method can be used to estimate purity and characterize mixtures.

Uploaded by

Parveen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
27K views

Applications of Critical Solution Temperature

This document discusses how the presence of impurities affects the critical solution temperature (CST) of mixtures. It provides examples of how specific impurities - sodium chloride and sodium oleate - change the CST of the phenol-water system. Sodium chloride, which is soluble only in water, raises the upper CST. Sodium oleate, which is soluble in both phenol and water, lowers the upper CST. The document also describes experiments to determine the CST of the phenol-water system and to examine the effect of sodium chloride concentration on the CST. The CST method can be used to estimate purity and characterize mixtures.

Uploaded by

Parveen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Applications of critical solution temperature

Effect of lmpurities on CST Values

The presence of an impurity, dissolved in one or both of the phases, changes the CST
values as well as the liquid phase composition at CST.

Substances soluble in only one of the liquids raise the upper CST and lower the lower CST.

For example, one percent solution of sodium chloride raises the upper CST of phenol-water
system by 12°.

About 0.12 molar solution of naphthalene (insoluble in water) in phenol raises the upper CST
of phenol-water system by about 30°.

Substances which are soluble in both the liquids tend to lower the upper CST and raise the
lower CST.

For example, sodium oleate is soluble in both water and phenol. Addition of 1% solution of
sodium oleate to phenol-water system lowers the CST value by 45°.

1. Purity of substance can be determined by critical solution temperature.


As seen above, the presence of small amounts of impurities produces a very large
change in the CST values. The change in CST values is usually a linear function of
concentration of impurities. Traces of water present in alcohol are estimated by
measuring the CST values for alcohol-cyclohexane system.
2. This principle is used in the preparation of phenolic disinfectants in water e.g.
Cresol with soap solution
As mentioned above, a very small amount of sodium oleate lowers the CST value of
phenol-water system considerably. Thus, by making phenol completely miscible with
water (by adding appropriate amounts of sodium oleate), lysol-like disinfectants are
made.
3. The lower critical solution temperature is used for the characterization of
polymer mixtures.
4. This method is useful to separate the liquids by the addition of third
substance. This technique is used for the extraction of drugs in the analysis.
5. Useful for the determination of percent composition of added substances.
EXPERIMENT 1 : CST OF PHENOL-WATER SYSTEM

You know that phenol and water constitute a partially miscible liquid pair which has an
upper CST. Objective of this experiment is to determine the CST of this system.

Principle
In this experiment miscibility temperatures of different mixtures of phenol and water are
determined. A graph is plotted by taking percentage composition of mixture along x-axis and
miscibility temperature along they-axis. Temperature corresponding to the highest point on
the dome shaped curve gives the CST of the system

Stock Solution Provided 1. Phenol 80% (mass/mass)

(Stock solution can be prepared by adding 20 g of distilled water to every 80 g of phenol.)

Procedure

Phenol is a highly poisonous and strongly caustic substance. It produces painful bums on
coming in contact with skin. Phenol should be handled with abundant care. In case of accidental
contact with phenol or its solution, wash the affected part with plenty of water and then apply
vaseline. Set up two burettes, one for phenol solution and the other for distilled water. Take five test
tubes and number them 1 to 5. Then prepare the following mixtures of phenol and water in test
tubes:

Take solution no. 1 in the boiling tube. Fix the wire stirrer and thermometer in the boiling
tube through the cork and place the boiling tube in the water bath. The bulb of the
thermometer should dip in the phenol-water mixture. The level of water in the bath
should be 1cm above the level of mixture in the boiling tube.

The phenol-water mixture in the tube may give rise to two layers. Stir the mixture with the
wire stirrer. It will produce a cloudiness or turbidity in the tube. Raise the temperature of
the bath slowly while stirring the mixture constantly. Note dorm the temperature(in Table
12.2) of the bath at which the last trace of cloudiness disappears. Remove the burner and
allow the clear solution to cool slowly while keeping it stirred. Note down the temperature
at which cloudiness just reappears. The average of the two temperatures, which should be
nearly equal, is the miscibility temperature for the mixture. Transfer the mixture into test
tube no. 1.
Find out the miscibility temperature for each mixture in the same manner and record the
values in Table 12.2. Now dilute the mixtures 1-5 with an equal volume of water (i.e., 10cm3.
This will give five more mixtures (no.6-10) having 40,36,32,28 and 24% phenol, respectively.
Find miscibility temperatures for these also and record the values in Table 12.2. After the
experiment, transfer all the mixtures to a used phenol bottle kept in the laboratory for
recovery of phenol by fractional distillation

Plot a graph by taking percentage composition of mixture along the x-axis and the miscibility
temperature along the y-axis. Draw a smooth curve through the points. Mark the maximum
point on the curve. Read the temperature and the composition of the mixture at the maximum point
from the graph. The temperature for the maximum point on the graph is the critical Phase solution
temperature for the phenol-water system.
EXPERIMENT 2: EFFECT OF NaCl ON CST OF PHENOL-
WATER SYSTEM
1. In this experiment, you will study the effect of an impurity (sodium chloride) on the CST of
the phenol-water system.
2. You will also determine the concentration of NaCl in an unknown
solution by critical solution temperature method.

Principle
You already studied that the impurities have a marked effect on the CST of a partially miscible liquid
pair. Sodium chloride is soluble only in water and not in phenol. Therefore, it will raise the CST of
phenol-water system.

In this experiment, the miscibility temperatures for various mixtures of phenol and aqueous
solutions of sodium chloride are determined. A calibration curve (usually a straight line) is
plotted between the concentration of NaCl and the miscibility temperature.

The miscibility temperature for a mixture of phenol and the unknown NaCl solution is also
determined. From the calibration curve, the concentration of unknown NaCl solution is then
obtained.

Stock Solution
1. Phenol 80% (mass/mass)

(Stock solution can be prepared by adding 20 g of distilled water to every 80 g of phenol.)

2. Sodium chloride 1% (mass/volume)


(Sodium chloride solution can be prepared by dissolving1 g of NaCl in every 100 cm3 of solution.)

Procedure
1. Take seven test tubes and number them from one to seven. Add 5 cm3of 80% (m/m) phenol
solution to each test tube with the help of a burette.

2. From another burette add 1,2,3,4 and 5 cm3of 1%NaCl solution to test tubes numbered 2 to 6,
respectively.

3. Add 5cm3of unknown NaCl solution to the test tube numbered 7.

4. Now add 5,4,3,2 and 1cm3of distilled water to test tube numbered 1to 5, respectively. This makes
the volume of mixture 10cm3in each test tube.

5. Take each mixture in the boiling tube and find out its miscibility temperature as described in
Experiment 1.

6. Record the data in Table.


7. Draw a graph between the percentage of sodium chloride (taken as x-axis) and the miscibility
temperature (taken as y-axis).
8. Find out the percentage of unknown sodium chloride solution (from the graph) corresponding to its
miscibility temperature, using interpolation method.

You might also like