Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Calcium Benzoate from Sodium Benzoate

schrodingers_hat - 30-3-2014 at 21:49

Hi all, I feel somewhat stupid for posting what will probably have such a simple answer, and I have as I will most likely hear "UTFSE" but havent been able to find anything truly useful.

For this reason, would someone be able to post a link to a doc or a procedure, or if the procedure is simple enough, would you be able to give a general outline?

Calcium Benzoate seems so much more expensive than Sodium benzoate - is it because the calcium salt has substantially more "benzoates" per gram?

Much appreciated.

elementcollector1 - 30-3-2014 at 21:56

It appears double displacement will work here, because calcium benzoate is significantly less soluble than its sodium counterpart. Try mixing concentrated solutions of calcium chloride and sodium benzoate, and observing for precipitate. If none forms (which I doubt, because the difference in solubility is so high), chill the solution.

schrodingers_hat - 30-3-2014 at 23:24

much obliged! keen to give it a try

schrodingers_hat - 30-3-2014 at 23:30

Sorry, I assume it would be 2:1 ratio CaCl2 to NA benzoate since the ionization number (pardon my lack of proper semantics) is 2 for Ca and 1 for Na?