Question

Urgent. The melting point of pure acetylsalicylic acid is 135 degrees celsius. Comment on the purity of your product based on its melting point range. My melting point range was 105-115. I do not even know where to start for this question. Could you please help?

Answer 1

The melting point range tells you how pure the sample is. Very pure samples have a small range (of the order of 0.5-1or 2 degrees C) while impure samples have a much higher range. Your sample, with a range of 10 degrees tells you the purity is not very high. Impurities also LOWER the melting point and you will note the m.p. of your material is lower than it should be.