Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Sodium propionate -> Propionic acid

Hilski - 18-4-2012 at 14:16

Basic procedure:

-Dissolve sodium propionate in H20.
-Add ~20% HCL to the solution
-Add solid NaCl to the solution to salt out the propionic acid. (I assume this would be needed since propionic acid is somewhat water soluable)
-Extract the aqueous solution with solvent (toluene? ether?)
-Dry the extracts and evap the solvent to leave the crude product.

Question:

1. This procedure should work equally well with Ca propionate, shouldn't it?


Thanks

**Edited to remove a stupid question that really isn't relevant.

[Edited on 18-4-2012 by Hilski]

bbartlog - 19-4-2012 at 05:00

The first three steps don't need to be separate. If you dissolve sodium propionate in an appropriate quantity of 20% HCl, you can end up with a solution of NaCl and propionic acid that is saturated (or near to it) with NaCl.
Possible useful reference in choosing an extraction solvent: http://www.arpapress.com/Volumes/Vol3Issue3/IJRRAS_3_3_08.pd...