How to Separate and Purify an Organic Compound
Separating and purifying the products of a reaction or of a natural mixture is essential in order to:
- Remove by-products and excess reagents.
- Identify and characterize.
- Guarantee properties and safety.
- Isolate high-value natural products, for example in pharmacology and medicine.
Removing by-products and excess reagents: organic syntheses produce complex mixtures from which the compound of interest must be isolated in the highest possible yield.
Identification and characterization: to know for certain which substance has been synthesized, or to analyse an unknown sample, the compound must be isolated and free from interferences.
Guaranteeing properties and safety: impurities can compromise the use of a substance or active ingredient in pharmacy, industry or research because, even if they are not toxic (and some are), they alter physical and chemical properties such as the melting point, the boiling point, the density or the reactivity.
Isolation of natural products: substances of plant or animal origin that may be of interest in a great number of applications are found in extremely complex matrices, from which they can only be extracted by selective separation processes.
