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3: Crystallization

  • Page ID
    254896
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    Crystallization is used in the chemistry laboratory as a purification technique for solids. An impure solid is completely dissolved in a minimal amount of hot, boiling solvent, and the hot solution is allowed to slowly cool. The developing crystals ideally form with high purity, while impurities remain in the saturated solution surrounding the solid (called the "mother liquor"). The crystallized solid is then filtered away from the impurities.

    Contributor

    • Lisa Nichols (Butte Community College). Organic Chemistry Laboratory Techniques is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Complete text is available online.


    This page titled 3: Crystallization is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lisa Nichols via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.