Organic Chemistry lab - Extraction

This semester I am taking Organic Chemistry, and concomitantly the lab that goes with it. Last week Solvent Extraction was done. Here are some pictures from the lab:


First, you take a separatory funnel and put it on a ring stand. Then you add a mixture of acetanilide, p-toluic acid, and p-tert-butylphenol to some TBME, and pour it in. Then you add 10 mL of sodium bicarbonate, and after some venting to release CO2, the layers separate, like so.



Add HCl to precipitate p-toluic acid. As this is done, foaming occurs with some pretty cool effects. Once that's complete, vacuum filtration follows, with a vacuum hose, Buchner funnel, and Erlenmeyer flask. The vacuum created in the flask pulls the liquid in a solution through the funnel, leaving crystals behind.



Much later, NaOH extract has HCl added to it to precipitate p-tert-butylphenol. Crystals form, seen here as the white mass in the beaker. I think too much HCl was added; was it supposed to test out to a pH of 1.5?


During separation of acetanilide from ether, ether is evaporated using a rotary evaporator and a round-bottom flask. This leaves a small bead of orange liquid in the beaker, left to dry for a week.


Here's a real world application of solvent extraction, lest you think this is all fun and games. :)