Vanessa Tate

4/6/17
CHEM-109
Final Lab

Quantitative Analysis of Commercial Aspirin Tablets

Introduction:

The purpose of this experiment was to analyze commercial aspirin tablets by

determining the percent of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in a single tablet. This data was

collected using two different methods, and the ultimate goal was to compare the

values obtained by each. The first half of the experiment used volumetric analysis

via an acid-base titration. Sodium hydroxide was added to a solution of a dissolved

aspirin tablet and the presence of an indicator determined the equivalence point.

The volume of NaOH dispensed is thus equal to the volume of acid in solution. The

second half of the experiment used spectroscopic techniques. Spectrophotometry is

the process by which radiation from the ultraviolet and visible regions of the

electromagnetic spectrum are utilized to quantitatively measure the amount of light

absorbed by a solution. Knowing the stoichiometric ratio between iron in a

FeCl3/KCl/HCl solution and salicylate allows the complex formed by combining the

two to be used in determining the percent of ASA present in an aspirin tablet. These

two methods were both used to analyze aspirin and its concentration of ASA.

Results:

In one part of the experiment, aspirin tablets were analyzed using dilutions

and spectrophotometry to determine the absorbance of the samples and thus the

concentration of ASA per tablet. The standard curve (Figure 3) was used to obtain

the concentration of the diluted samples using the absorbance for each dilution. The
results of the analysis are summarized in Table 1. The average mass % was

determined to be 77.93% with an average deviation of 7.49. The average mass of

ASA in a single tablet was about 308 mg. The absorbance of each solution is the

measure of the iron (III) salicylate product present in each (Balanced net ionic

equation: C7H5O3- + Fe3+ FeC7H5O32+) The plot shown in Figure 2 of the mole

fraction of Fe and the amount of product shows a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio for the

iron-salicylate complex.

Table 1. Spectrophotometry data and ASA concentration calculations based on

aspirin tablet dilutions
Sample Absorbance Diluted Original Moles ASA Mass %
@ 527 nm Concentration Concentration
(M) (M)
-4
1A 0.565 4.01 * 10 0.00802 0.002005 91.07
1B 0.505 3.62 * 10-4 0.00724 0.00181 82.24
2A 0.508 3.64 * 10-4 0.00728 0.00182 82.97
-4
2B 0.453 3.27 * 10 0.00654 0.001635 74.63
3A 0.383 2.81 * 10-4 0.00562 0.001405 64.16
3B 0.438 3.17 * 10-4 0.00634 0.001585 72.53

Figure 1. Jobs Plot of Amount of Product vs. Mole Fraction of Fe

Discussion:

The two different methods used in this experiment yielded different values for

the mass percent of ASA in an aspirin tablet. The titration showed there was an

average 329 mg of aspirin per tablet, which averaged about 83.5% of the tablets

mass. Using spectrophotometry, the wavelength used to find the absorbance was

the wavelength of maximum absorbance for the dilution with the greatest

concentration, which was 527 nm. This method showed an average of about 308 mg

per tablet, resulting in an average mass percent of 77.93%. The Bayer aspirin

brand that we used listed that a single tablet contains 325 mg of ASA per tablet.

Given that the mass of an aspirin tablet was always found to be between 0.39 and

0.40g, the expected mass percent of ASA would range from about 81-83%. The

value of the titration was much closer to the value of what the tablets are

advertised to contain, and were within 5% of the bottle assay. The results of the

spectrophotometry were also within the 5% assay, but were not as close to the

expected value.

Both titration and spectrophotometry were methods used to determine the

percent of ASA in a single aspirin tablet, each advantageous for different reasons.

The titration involved the use of an indicator and NaOH to titrate the aspirin solution

and determine the volume of ASA. NaOH cant be used as a primary standard

because it is hygroscopic, meaning that it attracts moisture from the air and can
react with carbon dioxide, forming sodium carbonate. Consequently, the

concentration cannot be relied upon as it may vary over time if it is not carefully

contained. One advantage of using a titration is that the buret and careful titrating

allows for a high degree of accuracy and precision. This method is also

disadvantageous because when performing the titration, the reaction may not be

instantaneous. It may be difficult to determine the exact end point, thus the exact

volume. Spectrophotometry is an advantageous method because it provides a quick

and easy analysis. However, the accuracy and sensitivity of the instrument may

vary based on other factors that may influence the absorption of a substance.

I have more confidence in the titration results because there was a much

smaller deviation in the mass of aspirin in a single tablet, showing greater precision.

The large average deviation from the spectrophotometry could be due to the fact

that the concentrations were derived from the standard curve for each individual

dilution and not through any direct measure. One inherent error in the

spectrophotometry procedure is that a single tablet was used for each of the

dilutions, and only three tablets in total. This small sample size increases the

possibility of an issue one of the tablets skewing the data, regardless of the

precision of the experiment itself. An error inherent in both procedures is the

assumption that ASA reacted completely. By making this assumption to determine

the volume of ASA in the tablet, this could result in the underestimation of its

volume, thus decreasing the final average mass percent. A question raised by the

results is whether or not the differences in values came from the use of different

methodologies used or if they were due to natural variation in the tablets of aspirin

themselves. Because so few tablets were used in this experiment, the investigation
could be taken further by using a greater number of tablets for each method and

comparing the values obtained by each.