Topic 2.

5
Balanced equations and
related calculations

Determining the mass of aspirin in a

tablet
Aims
In this activity you will look at two different analytical methods that can be used to determine
the mass of aspirin in an aspirin tablet. The first is a method that you will be familiar with,
titration. The second is another form of titration known as back titration. Before you start this
worksheet you should make sure that you know how to complete a titration calculation and
reread chapter 2.5 if necessary.

Direct titration
A student has read on a packet of aspirin that each tablet contains 250 mg of aspirin, and has
decided to find out if this is true.
The systematic name of aspirin is 2-ethanoylhydroxybenzoic acid. Aspirin is a carboxylic
acid and neutralises a cold dilute solution of sodium hydroxide to form a salt. This reaction is
used to form the basis of a titration.
CH3COOC6H4COOH + NaOH CH3COOC6H4COONa + H2O
aspirin
1 Calculate the relative molecular mass of aspirin (2-ethanoylhydroxybenzoic acid).
The student decides to use this reaction in a titration to determine the mass of aspirin in each
tablet.
She crushes four tablets, transfers them to a 100 cm3 volumetric flask, dissolving them in a
50/50 mixture of ethanol and distilled water (it is difficult to dissolve aspirin in pure water).
Using a pipette she transfers 25 cm3 of this solution into a conical flask and titrates it against
a 0.1 mol dm3 standard solution of sodium hydroxide, using phenolphthalein as an indicator.
The average titre is 14.70 cm3.
2 Calculate the mass of aspirin in each tablet.

Back titration
The student then decides to check her results by using another method of analysis, back
titration.
In a back titration, the concentration of a solution is determined by reacting it with a known
number of moles of excess reagent. The excess reagent is then titrated with a second reagent.
By calculating the number of moles of the excess reagent that remain after the reaction, the
number of moles that reacted can be worked out. From this, the concentration of the original
solution can be determined.

AQA Chemistry AS Level Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008

Topic 2.5
Balanced equations and
related calculations
For this procedure, the student placed one aspirin tablet in a conical flask with 50 cm3 of
0.2 mol dm3 sodium hydroxide and heated the reaction mixture for 10 minutes. Under these
conditions, the aspirin hydrolyses. The equation for the reaction that occurs is:

aspirin
The sodium hydroxide is in excess in this reaction, and so some remains after all the aspirin
has reacted. To determine the amount of unreacted sodium hydroxide she titrated the reaction
mixture with hydrochloric acid. From this, she worked out the moles of sodium hydroxide
that had reacted with the aspirin and hence calculated the concentration of the original aspirin
solution.
All 50 cm3 of the sodium hydroxide and hydrolysed aspirin solution was titrated against
0.5 mol dm3 hydrochloric acid. The titre was 14.00 cm3.
3 Calculate the mass of aspirin in each tablet. Try to do this calculation using only the
information given above. However, there are steps to help you if you need them at the
end of the sheet.
4 In the direct titration reaction one mole of aspirin reacts with one mole of hydroxide ions.
However, the initial reaction for the back titration reaction shows one mole of aspirin
reacting with 2 moles of hydroxide ions. Suggest a reason for this difference in reaction.
5 Which of these two methods do you feel will give the more accurate result? Explain your
answer.

Steps for calculating the mass of aspirin in a tablet from back

titration
From your back titration reading, and knowing the concentration of acid used, first
calculate the moles of hydrochloric acid used in the titration.
Use this value and the equation for the reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium
hydroxide (you will need to work this out) to calculate the number of moles of sodium
hydroxide remaining in the reaction mixture after the reaction with aspirin.
Calculate the moles of sodium hydroxide added to the aspirin at the start of the procedure,
and subtract from this the moles of sodium hydroxide remaining. This gives you the
number of moles of sodium hydroxide neutralised by the aspirin.
Knowing the equation for the reaction between aspirin and sodium hydroxide (given
above), deduce the moles of aspirin present in the tablets.
Convert the moles of aspirin into a mass in grams, using Mr[aspirin]

AQA Chemistry AS Level Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008