Separation Of Excedrin

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This paper describes the separation and isolation of the three active components of Excedrin. The three components of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine were separated using the technique of acid-base extraction with K2HPO4 and KOH being the bases and HCl as the acid. Distillation was also performed on the ether layer to extract the caffeine. One week later, crystals from the K2HPO4 and KOH solutions were acquired via vacuum filtration. Due to the ether evaporating, crystals from the ether did not need to be filtered. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) was then performed on the K2HPO4 crystals, the KOH crystals, the ether crystals, the K2HPO4 liquid solution, and the KOH solution. The TLC determined the K2HPO4 crystals as aspirin, the KOH crystals

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