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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
Technical Report · September 2022
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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA
LEAVES.
Report Analysis
ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
TITLE: ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES
INTRODUCTION: Tea is a commonly used caffeinated beverage in the world.
It has been consumed as a beverage for almost 2000 years, starting in China. It is
produced by steeping in freshly boiled water, the young leaves of the tea plant
(Camellia sinensis), and young buds of the same. The active ingredient that makes
tea so much value to humans is caffeine. Caffeine is also found present in coffee.
In 1819, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, a German Chemist discovered caffeine. He
coined the term `Kaffein` which later came to become `Caffeine`. In 1821, for the
first time, the great French chemist: Pierre Jean Robiquet isolated caffeine from
black coffee.
Caffeine belongs to the class of alkaloids and family xanthine. Alkaloids are basic
nitrogen-containing compounds present in plants and herbs. Other examples of
alkaloids include nicotine, morphine, cocaine, and strychnine. The role of these
alkaloids in plants is not well understood, but in some cases, they act as pesticides;
for example, nicotine is used as an insecticide when sprayed on some plants.
The medical name of caffeine derived from its medical structure is 1,3,7-
trimethylxanthine, and it has the chemical formula C8H10N4O2. Natural occurring
caffeine is found in over 60 plant species. It is found in a number of things ingested
by people. Better known sources are cocoa beans, cola nuts, and black and green
tea leaves. It can also be found in coffee, soft and energy drinks, and chocolates.
Caffeine is a bitter white crystalline methylxanthine compound. It serves as a
stimulant: stimulating the heart, muscles, and the centers of control blood pressure
leading to an increase in respiration and heart rate, as well as the Central Nervous
System. It also serves as a diuretic: by increasing the flow of urine in the body, it
helps get rid of excess water from the body. Caffeine also causes insomnia: it puts
off sleep and thus has the capacity of improving alertness and learning and
thinking capacity. However, once the `cold turkey effect is off, this may lead to
headache, fatigue, and nervousness.
Caffeine is verified to have a physical dependence. It is physically addictive for a
person to take four cups of coffee a day. This is because it does influence some
channels of the brain, changing its chemistry and increasing dopamine levels. It is
also a vasodilator: causing the blood vessels in the brain to constrict.
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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
Though the effects of caffeine are milder than those of other stimulants like heroin,
amphetamines, and cocaine, it is extensively the most abused drug. As a result of
its stimulant and health concerns, many consumers prefer to avoid caffeine
partially or altogether. This makes decaffeination of coffee and tea an important
process for the industries. Decaffeination of tea and coffee doesn`t mean that they
are coffee free, however, they are labeled such as long as 97% of caffeine is
removed.
In this experiment, caffeine was extracted from tea bags and tea leaves. Extraction
method was used.
Below is the structure of caffeine:
OBJECTIVE: To isolate caffeine from tea leaves
APPARATUS USED: a clean dry 150 mL glass beaker, a clean dry 25 mL glass
beaker, 50 mL Erlenmeyer flask, 125 mL separatory flask, 25 mL Erlenmeyer
flask, Pasteur pipet, electric weigh machine, ring, and retort stand, glass rod,
spatula, 1 micro-burner or hot plate, cold water bath, a pair of scissors.
CHEMICAL REAGENTS USED: 2 tea bags, dichloromethane, deionized water,
anhydrous sodium carbonate, boiling chips, sodium sulfate, petroleum ether.
PROCEDURE:
In order to extract caffeine from tea, several steps were followed. These were as
stated:
Trying not to tear the paper, two tea bags were opened by removing the staple and
their total contents were weighed to the nearest milligram using the electric weigh
machine. Afterward, this weight was recorded on a noted book and the tea was
placed back into the bags using a spatula, and the bags stapled shut.
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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
Later on, the tea bags were placed into the bottom of a clean dry 150 mL beaker
and 30 mL of deionized water were measured using a calibrated beaker and added.
This was followed by the addition of 2.0 g of anhydrous sodium carbonate.
Supported by a ring on a ring stand, the beaker was positioned on a wire gauze and
a watch glass fastened at its top. The contents on the beaker were then and there
gently boiled for 10 minutes utilizing a micro-burner. Whenever the tea bags
would rise out of the liquid, they were pushed down often using a glass stirring
rod. Later on, the hot liquid was decanted into a 50 mL Erlenmeyer flask.
20 mL of deionized water was again added to the beaker and for the second time,
the contents were boiled afresh using the micro-burner. Once again, the liquid in
the beaker was decanted into a 50 mL Erlenmeyer flask. The two tea bags were
altogether squeezed and pressed with a clean cork to express and extract as much
liquid as possible into the beaker without breaking the bag. This liquid was also
transferred to the 50mL Erlenmeyer flask. At this moment, the tea extract was
cooled to room temperature while the tea bags themselves were discarded.
The tea extract was at that time all at once transferred from the 50 mL Erlenmeyer
flask to a 125 mL separatory funnel that is supported by a ring on a ring stand.
5 mL of dichloromethane was added to the separatory funnel and the funnel was
closed tightly using a stopper, grabbing the funnel`s neck with one hand and
plugging the stopper into the neck of the funnel.
While holding the stopper tightly in the neck of the funnel, the funnel was inverted
so that the liquid is no longer in contact with the stopcock. Afterward, the stopcock
was opened to release any pressure that may have built up inside the funnel, having
its stem pointed away from everybody.
The stopcock was then closed and the material in the funnel agitated without
shaking it vigorously. This was to allow the contents to mix inducing no generation
of emulsion. This process was repeated again before the separatory funnel was
reclasped to the ring stand.
The contents in the separatory funnel were allowed to settle and there was the
appearance of two distinct layers. Trying not to include any of the aqueous upper
layers, the lower layer (dichloromethane) was carefully drained into a 25 mL
Erlenmeyer flask. This process was repeated using the second portion of 5 mL
dichloromethane to obtain more solution after draining.
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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
To the combined dichloromethane extracts in the 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask, 0.5g of
sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) were added and the contents in the flask swirled. This
liquid from the flask was decanted into a 25 mL beaker. Placing one Boileezer into
the beaker: which prevented the bumping of the liquid by allowing the bubbles to
form smoothly during boiling, the beaker was positioned and steadied on a hot
plate. When the volume of the material in the beaker was between 3 and 5 mL,
petroleum ether started to be added by means of a Pasteur pipet.
Immediately the solution in the beaker got cloudy, it was allowed to cool on the
bench and the crystals of caffeine were formed.
RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS: When heating the contents in the beaker
using a hot plate for 10 minutes, in order to boil the tea with water and sodium
carbonate (Na2CO3), the color of the solution started to turn brown in color. The
intensity of this color seemingly increased through time and odors could be
smelled from the solution.
After dichloromethane was added to the solution in the separatory funnel, two
layers were formed: the bottom layer being dichloromethane that also contained
caffeine in it while the top layer being the other solution that wasn`t soluble in
dichloromethane.
However, firstly, when the dichloromethane was added to the solution, an
emulsion of a cloudy layer was formed between the two layers. This emulsion was
done away with by swirling the contents of the funnel and shaking it not
vigorously.
Towards the end of the experiment, during the addition of petroleum ether using
the Pasteur pipet, a white crust in the form of a precipitate was formed and seen
present in the bottom of the beaker. This crust-like precipitate contained caffeine
which was the targeted product, nevertheless, this precipitate was seen to be
greenish in color instead of white (the color of caffeine) indicating the presence of
another organic substance, namely tannin.
DISCUSSION: In this experiment, caffeine was obtained by using an extraction
method from tea (Camellia sinensis). Extraction is a method used for the separation
of organic compounds from a mixture of compounds. This technique dissolves one
or more compounds in an appropriate solvent. The solution of these dissolved
compounds is referred to as the extract. Thus, extraction as a separating process
has the advantage of low energy consumption, high efficiency, high selectivity,
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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
and less expensive alternative compared to other separating methods like
distillation, evaporation, and membrane technology.
The tea leaves where caffeine was extracted contained other compounds like
cellulose, chlorophyll, pigments and acidic tannins _ a phenolic compound of high
molecular weight. The presence of these organic compounds would finally lead to
the impurity of caffeine after its extracted and so, to extract it, caffeine must be
present as the free base. For this to be so, the above-mentioned substances must
remain water-soluble.
Today, two principled varieties are used, the small-leaved China plant (C Sinensis
sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C Sinensis assamica). A hybrid of this
two is also grown.
In this experiment, 14g of tea in tea bags were firstly weighed and added to a 150
mL beaker, with the addition of 30 mL deionized water and 2.0 g of sodium
carbonate. The function of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) was to extract the caffeine
from the tea into the aqueous solution. It also acted as a base by converting the
organic compounds such as tannins into their sodium salts, so that they would be
extracted into the solvent used in the subsequent extraction. This allowed purer
caffeine to be isolated and extracted. Boiling of the contents for 10 minutes was
done to enable better dissolution of caffeine into the water in order that it would be
separated from other insoluble substances like cellulose, the main leaf content.
These insoluble substances were then easily removed because they were insoluble
in water, thus decantation was done.
The solution was then transferred into the separatory funnel and extraction solvent
dichloromethane was added. Dichloromethane is a polar organic solvent that is
good in dissolving most organic molecules like caffeine. Water on the other hand
is immiscible with dichloromethane.
Since caffeine is more soluble in dichloromethane (with a solubility value of 140
mg/ml) than in water (22 mg/ml), two distinct layers were formed: one layer being
dichloromethane and caffeine and the other being water. Because dichloromethane
is denser than water, it will form a separate layer at the bottom of the solution.
Swirling and shaking (not vigorously) of the mixture in the funnel was done to
ensure that all caffeine migrated from tea into the extractant. The denser layer was
then drained out from the separatory funnel into the 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask.
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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
Notwithstanding, even after the extraction process, the lower layer containing
dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) solvent and caffeine also contained some water
molecules as water and dichloromethane are slightly soluble in each other.
Therefore, when the extract was obtained and put in the 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask,
0.5g sodium sulfate was added to the extract. This was used as a drying agent as it
removed any water molecules present in the extract, since its soluble in water,
leaving behind caffeine and dichloromethane.
At the end of the experiment, upon boiling the contents of the liquid in the 2 mL
beaker, boiling chips were put inside to help prevent the bumping of the solution
during heating. On heating, dichloromethane, which has a lower boiling point than
caffeine, evaporates and caffeine remains in the vessel.
Possible sources of error in this experiment include: when extracting the coffee
using the separatory funnel, some of the dichloromethane containing the caffeine
could have been expelled out of the funnel through the stopcock and thrown away
by accident, or on the other hand, during drainage of the dichloromethane from the
separatory funnel, not all was drained.
Also, an inadequate amount of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) could have been added
during the boiling process which would cause the solution to be not basic enough,
thus not all tannins were converted into their salt form which makes it still soluble
in the solvent, dichloromethane (CH2Cl2), and thereby extracted with the organic
layer that was supposed to contain the solvent and caffeine only.
This would result in a green-colored compound in the caffeine sample. In addition
to this, caffeine might not have been fully extracted from the tea.
CONCLUSION: Overall, the experiment was a success since the aim of isolating
caffeine from tea using liquid-liquid extraction technique was achieved. The
product of white crystals that was managed to be gathered and accumulated proved
the presence of caffeine in tea other than coffee. There should have been more
caffeine that was obtained, but we reasoned out that there were some errors that
occurred during the experiment. The technique used during this experiment also
proved it could yield good results.
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ISOLATION OF CAFFEINE FROM TEA LEAVES.
REFERENCES:
1. https://compress-pdf.rovea.info/download/compresspdf
2. https://www.iomcworld.com/pdfdownload.php?download=open-access/isolation-of-
natural-caffeine-from-lipton-black-tea-through-acidbaseliquidliquid-extraction-approach-
its-medical-signifi.pdf&aid=70980
3. https://pdfcoffee.com/download/-extraction-of-caffeine-from-tea-lab-report-pdf-free.html
4. https://onlineeduhelp.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/caffeine-extraction-lab-report-2.pdf
5. https://onlineeduhelp.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/caffeine-extraction-and-
characterization.pdf
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