Can amino acids such as glycine and alanine be extracted from aqueous solvents by organic solvent extraction?
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Well, it is possible amino acids are water-soluble organic compounds, so extracting them from water using traditional solvent-based liquid-liquid extraction methods may not be effective because they are already present in the aqueous phase. However, you can still isolate and concentrate amino acids from a water sample through various techniques such as precipitation, solid-phase extraction (SPE), or chromatography. Here's an overview of these methods:
In summary, while traditional liquid-liquid extraction may not be suitable for extracting amino acids from water, you can employ techniques like precipitation, solid-phase extraction, or chromatography to isolate and concentrate amino acids effectively. The choice of method will depend on the specific requirements of your analysis and the equipment and resources available to you
Yes, amino acids such as glycine and alanine can be extracted from aqueous solvents by organic solvent extraction. This is a technique that uses the difference in solubility and polarity of the amino acids and other compounds in the aqueous solution. The amino acids can be converted into their zwitterionic form by adjusting the pH of the solution to their isoelectric point, which is around 6 for both glycine and alanine1. This makes them less soluble in water and more soluble in organic solvents, such as chloroform, ether, or ethyl acetate2. The organic solvent can then be separated from the aqueous layer by using a separatory funnel or a centrifuge. The amino acids can be recovered from the organic layer by evaporating the solvent or by adding another aqueous solution with a different pH to reverse the extraction process3.
Some references that describe this method in more detail are:
- Extraction of Amino Acids from Aqueous Solutions Using Chloroform by A. M. Al-Awadhi, M. A. Al-Kandari, and F. A. Al-Kharafi, Journal of Solution Chemistry, vol. 36, no. 11, pp. 1325-1334, 2007.
- Extraction of amino acids from aqueous solutions using ethyl acetate by A. M. Al-Awadhi, M. A. Al-Kandari, and F. A. Al-Kharafi, Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, vol. 53, no. 8, pp. 1840-1843, 2008.
- Separation of amino acids by liquid–liquid extraction using aqueous two-phase systems by S. Kostova, I. Ivanov, and S. Tsvetkova, Journal of Chromatography B, vol. 877, no. 1-2, pp. 115-120, 2009.
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/10/1716
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2023/ra/d3ra03092j
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