I was performing fractionation for a plant extract, i was perplexed by the answers i found on the internet as "denser solvent is the lower portion" .
however, another answered the separation is done based on the molecular weight, in this case chloroform is the lower portion.
Can anyone confirm this? your help will be appreciated, Thank you
Denser solvent will be chloroform. Phase distribution is givel by density not molecular weight
I think that denser solvent will be at the bottom of separating funnel. But extraction is based on polarity
The denser solvent stay at the bottom, but I am not sure that this tree component system will be triphasic, probably methanol could solubilize the remaining two solvents since MeOH/CHCl3 and H2O/MeOH mixtures are soluble. I will proceed by separate extractive steps.
all the three solvents are miscible with each other. one cannot separate them in to layers in a separating funnel. if only 3 pure solvents are mixed they can be separated by fractional distillation, first distillate will be chloroform, 2nd will be methanol and water will remain in the flask.
Chloroform is insoluble in a MeOH/water 3:2 mixture. It is a two-layer system.
you will have 2 phases, H2O/MeOH and CHCl3/MeoH. in order observe which is which, you can take a small sample in a tube from the bottom and top and add H2O. if its creating two phases it is the CHCl3 phase if it dosen't create two phases it is the MeOH/H2O phase.
Methanol is miscible with Chloroform and Water. It depends on the proportion of solvents you use. You will have to check the volume of respective solvents you use and check how much portion of methanol mixes with water and chloroform. But it is 100% sure that dense layer of chloroform will be at the bottom in separating funnel.
Methanol-water mixture (7+3 or 8+2 V/V) will separate from chloroform. Chloroform will be at the bottom
You should note that most halogenated organic solvents eg chloroform (CHCl3), dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) are denser than water so, they are found in the bottom layer.
Yes, certainly chloroform is denser than water
If you want to make sure, put colored water with chloroform in the simplest experiment to determine which is more dense
The methanol is less dense and mixed with water
It also mixes with chloroform, so when applying alkaloids purification as an example of an alcohol methanol extract
When applying chloroform, two layers do not appear clear even after changing the acidity of the extract
This is why sometimes we have to add water to reduce the mixing of methanol with chloroform........................This view is through experiences
best regards
Mohammed Sohel Chowdhury Omar Abdullahi Wafudu Handy Saphan Muzoora Hamdy Ibrahim Hussein
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