Panacetin Synthesis

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Sam Surf had suspicions about the illegal knockoffs and inaccurate measurements of the active and inactive ingredients in San Diego drug store purchased Panacetin. The purpose of the experiment was to respond to the message from a drug watchdog agency, the Association for Safe Pharmaceuticals (ASP). The experiment was carried out in order to determine the percentage of aspirin, sucrose, and the unknown component by analyzing the drug preparation of “Panacetin,” and in the final stage, to identify the unknown component as acetanilide or phenacetin through purification. The purification of the unknown product was performed by boiling and allowing recrystallization of the product, then drying it to be further analyzed. The melting point ranges were measured in order to complete the analysis of the unknown product to determine its actual identity as either phenacetin or acetanilide. The volume of water necessary to boil the unknown was also a clue as to which component was present as the unknown in the drug preparation of Panacetin. If the unknown was acetanilide, its solubility would have required a volume of about 20 mL of water. However, the volume required for the unknown component to completely …show more content…

The purified unknown had a melting point range, as seen in Table 1, of 135-137ºC. When the unknown was combined with acetanilide, the melting point range of the mixture was much lower, at only 97-106ºC. The literature melting point of acetanilide is 114ºC where the literature melting point of phenacetin is 135ºC. When the unknown was combined with phenacetin, as seen in Table 1, the melting point range of the mixture was very close to that of the purified unknown, 134-138ºC, and the literature value of phenacetin. It could therefore be concluded that, based on the solubility and melting point of the unknown component, the unknown could be identified as

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