The Comparison of Microwave-Assisted Organic Synthesis and the Conventional Heating Method
by Qinrou Zhang
Category: STEM
Abstract – A branch of green chemistry called microwave-assisted organic synthesis is explored. This procedure uses heat generated by reactant molecules under the electromagnetic field of radiation in microwaves to facilitate the reaction. A simple method was developed for synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid, commonly known as aspirin. To highlight the characteristics of this procedure, acetylsalicylic acid was synthesized using conventional methods that use a water bath as an energy source, as a comparison. Since the purity and yield is a great emphasis in green chemistry, purity and yield of acetylsalicylic acid synthesized using both procedures were determined using the iron (III) chloride test. The results showed acetylsalicylic acid synthesized using microwave assisted organic synthesis had higher yield and purity in a shorter reaction time compared to the conventional method. Furthermore, microwave-assisted organic synthesis did not require the use of a catalyst to produce high purity and yield, unlike the conventional method.