Isolation of Caffeine from Tea

PURPOSE:
To expose the student to new equipment and lab procedures. And to determine the percent of caffeine in
a sample of tea leaves.
INTRODUCTION:
By selecting the proper solvent, specific compounds can be separated from solutions. Caffeine is a
natural compound in tea along with tannin, cellulose, chlorophyll and smaller amounts of other
substances. If raw tea is placed in hot water, caffeine and tannin will dissolve into the heated water
leaving cellulose and other substances as insoluble solids. If sodium carbonate is added to the heated
solution (of water, caffeine and tannin) the tannin reacts with the sodium carbonate and forms an
insoluble salt thus removing it from the solution. If the solution of water and caffeine is mixed with the
solvent dichloromethane, the caffeine is transferred to the dichloromethane. This results from the fact that
caffeine is much more soluble in dichloromethane than water. Water and dichloromethane are not soluble
in each other. The volatile dichloromethane can easily be vaporized off from the dichloromethane/caffeine
solution leaving fairly pure solid caffeine.
In this lab you will follow a rather complex set of procedures that separate caffeine from tea leaves.
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Your starting natural material will be the tea

leaves contained in two tea bags (left). A small
graduated cylinder will be used to measure out
small quantities of the solvent dichloromethane.
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Two evaporating
dishes contain spoons
and the compounds
sodium carbonate and
magnesium sulfate
(anhydrous).
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The device used to

separate two insoluble
liquids is the separator
funnel.

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If you get into trouble and perform some procedure that

causes the lab to fail(lab equipment will no longer operate),
you can press the "Reset" button and the simulation will return
to the starting position.
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PROCEDURE:
1) You can adjust the background shading by clicking on the "Special" button to the right and selecting
"Background". Click on the "Special" button and select "Print Blank Report" to obtain a web page that
can be printed and used as a lab report. (the program will not be interrupted)
2) Wear your goggles. Pick up the red water bottle and hold the spout above and centered over the large
graduated cylinders mouth. Press the "p" key to squeeze out 10 mL of water. Repeat this until you have
collected 50 mL of water in the cylinder.
3) Place the large beaker on the hotplate. Pick up the large cylinder and center the left lip of the cylinder,
over and above the mouth of the large beaker. While holding it here, press "p" to pour the contents into
the beaker.
4) Pick up the pair of tea bags and place them on the balance on the left shelf. Record the mass. (the
slight mass of the paper can be ignored). Place the tea bags in the large beaker.
5) Pick up the spoon found in the dish marked Na2CO3. Hold the bowl of the spoon over and above the
mouth of the large beaker. Press "p" to dump the solid into the beaker. (this compound will eliminate the
tannins from the future heated water solution)
6) Turn on the hot plate by clicking on the switch found on its left side. Drag the lever on the hotplate to
the right until the water in the beaker starts to boil. While the large beaker is boiling, place another 50 mL
of water in the large cylinder.
7) When the solution within the beaker turns light brown, pick the beaker up and hold the left lip centered
over and above the flask in the ice bath. Press "p" to pour. (the solution turned brown when most of the
tea components went into solution) Place the beaker back on the hotplate and pour in the second 50 mL
of water. When the solution turns brown, once again pour it into the flask. Place the beaker on the table
and turn off the hotplate.
8) Remove the stopper from the separator funnel and place it on the table. Pick up the flask from the ice
bath and center the left lip above and over the mouth of the separator funnel. Press "p" to pour. (the ice
bath was used to cool off the hot tea solution).
9) Remove the cap from the bottle of dichloromethane. Pick up the bottle and pour 10 mL into the small
graduated cylinder on the shelf. (use the same technique as used for the other containers) Pour the 10
mL of dichloromethane from the small cylinder into the separator funnel. (the dichloromethane layer takes
on a slight green color from the small amount of chlorophyll present)
10) Replace the stopper in the separator funnel and pick it up, an assisting hand will appear. While
holding the separator funnel, press and hold the "p" key. The funnel will invert and the petcock (lever at
the bottom of the funnel) will turn to release any built up pressure from the dichloromethane. Release the
"p" key and the funnel will return to normal with the petcock closed. Invert the funnel two more times. (by
mixing the two liquids in the funnel, the caffeine is transferred to the dichloromethane layer) Caution: if the
solution is mixed too much an emulsion can form and make it impossible to separate the two layers!
11) Place the funnel back on the clamp where it originally was (the hand will disappear) and remove the
stopper. Place the smallest beaker under the funnel's spout. Click on the bottom petcock on the funnel
and start to drain off the dichloromethane layer into the small beaker. Caution: slow down where the
dichloromethane layer is about to disappear and continue one click at a time. When the correct level is
reached, the program will inform you.
12) Refill the small cylinder with 10 mL of dichloromethane from the bottle. Pour this second 10 mL into
the separator funnel. Replace the stopper in the funnel and invert three times to mix. Follow procedure
11) and drain off the dichloromethane from the funnel. (two washings improve the level of caffeine
removed)
13) Place the contents of the MgSO4 spoon into the small beaker. (this compound will remove any water
that was trapped within the dichloromethane)
14) Place the "product" beaker on the balance and record its mass. Place the "product" beaker back on
the table and pour the contents of the small beaker into it. Turn on the hotplate and move the lever to the
far left. Caution: the lever must be moved to the left to produce the mildest heat!
15) Place the "product" beaker on the hotplate to vaporize off the dichloromethane. (high heat will
vaporize the dichloromethane AND decompose the caffeine, ruining your product)
16) When the caffeine is dry, the program will let you know, turn off the hotplate and place the "product"
beaker on the balance. Record the combined mass of the beaker and caffeine.
17) Calculate the requested values asked for on the lab sheet and any given by your teacher. For help
on these values click on the "Special" button and select "View Data & Hints". Select "File Report" to
send a copy to be viewed by your teacher.