Chemical Synthesis Example

Synthesis is one of the basic processes of chemistry, which consists of obtaining a chemical compound from the elements or the simplest substances that make it up.

Through chemical analysis, it is studied and determined which elements and compounds make up a substance. Chemical analysis revealed that water, which for many centuries was considered an element, is actually made up of hydrogen and oxygen. The simple elements and compounds that make up a substance are called precursors.

Chemical synthesis does the opposite of analysis, that is, it builds chemical compounds from their constituent precursors.

Chemical equations that involve the combination of two or more substances and that result in the formation of one substance that combines them totally or partially (and sometimes some other compound, which is called a by-product), express reactions of synthesis.

The synthesis can occur both in organic and inorganic substances.

Inorganic synthesis is very important at an industrial level, since it allows obtaining substances that do not exist naturally. in nature, as with steel (synthesis of iron and carbon), or bronze (synthesis of copper, tin and sometimes nickel).

In organic chemistry, synthesis processes occur both in nature and in laboratories. All living organisms take nutrients and substances that when combined in biological processes, give rise to all the compounds that make up an organism. These processes can also be replicated in the laboratory, and are the basis of the pharmaceutical industries, of cosmetics and food, since there are natural substances that, due to their great utility and scarcity, would be very expensive. Chemical analysis makes it possible to isolate the active substances and their components, while chemical synthesis makes it possible to reproduce these molecules in the laboratory. That is why these laboratory-created compounds are also called synthetic compounds.

Organic synthesis is also used in industry to create plastics, textiles, and electronic components.

Chemical synthesis example:

One of the most common inorganic chemical syntheses is that of the formation of water. In it, two hydrogen atoms are combined with one of oxygen:

2H2 + O2 -> 2H2O.

Another more complex inorganic synthesis is the formation of soda. In it, sodium oxide and water are combined, resulting in sodium hydroxide:

Na2O + H2O -> 2Na (OH)

An example of complex synthesis is the organic synthesis of Aspirin. Aspirin is a compound derived from a natural substance in the willow tree, called salicylic acid. It is naturally found in the leaves and bark of this tree and has been used since ancient times as a medicine for fever and inflammation. Salicylic acid molecules are organic acids that are produced in the laboratory from simpler substances.

The process starts from benzene. This organic compound is oxygenated to turn it into phenol. The phenol is mixed with an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, which is kept hot until the water has completely evaporated. This produces sodium phenolate. Once the product is completely dry, it is put into an autoclave (pressure cooker) and carbon monoxide is injected, which converts sodium phenolate to sodium salicylate. The salicylate is bleached with zinc, and then sulfuric acid is added, thereby precipitating the salicylic acid crystals, which are separated by centrifugation.

However, salicylic acid is irritating and damaging to the stomach, so part of the process for the elaboration of aspirin is to add an acetic radical to it so that it is more tolerable in the stomach.

To achieve this, salicylic acid is subjected to the action of acetic anhydride, with which it reacts, producing acetylsalicylic acid and as a by-product, acetic acid. Finally they are separated by centrifugation, obtaining crystals of acetylsalicylic acid and acetic acid, a by-product that is reused.