Lab 10: Isolation of Identification of the major constituent of clove oil
3/15/2012
Purpose: The purpose of this lab was to isolate the cove oil from ground cloves and determine the identity of the major constituent that is known to have the molecular formula C10H12O2 through IR spectrometry.
Theory:
Many people search for alternative ways to treat illnesses other than the conventional use of drugs and surgery. These alternative ways include aromatherapy, naturopathy, and homeopathy. Aromatherapy uses essential oils to treat the illness. Naturopathy is a system of treating diseases through using essential oils to treat the illness. Naturopathy is a system of treating diseases through using a special diet, herbs, vitamins and various other natural healing pathways. Then lastly, homeopathy is use of carefully formulated mixtures of herbal medicines. Among the use of natural products to treat illnesses and disease is the use of clove oil, which is widely used for aromatherapy. Clove oil can be used to help treat toothaches, muscle pain, ringworms, warts and exhaustion. Other examples of medicinal remedies include palmetto berries used to treat nonmalignant prostate disease, gingko leaves area used to improve blood flow in capillaries and arteries, and ephedra stems can be used to treat asthma and hay fever. Returning back to clove oil, which is used in this experiment, this oil is extracted from a small evergreen tree called Syzygium aromaticum that is found in Indonesia, Madagascar, and Zanzibar. Clove oil consists of an essential oil which is a volatile mixture of water-insoluble components that releases an odor and other characteristic of the plant. In this experiment we abstracted the major component of clove oil by codistillation with water through steam distillation and dichloromethane extractions. Also, IR spectrometry was used to identify the unknown constituent. An IR spectrum shows the characteristic