Microwave-Assisted Isolation of Eugenol from Cloves

摘要

An experiment for the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory involving a method for the isolation of eugenol from cloves has been developed. The experiment employs microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of the essential oil from whole cloves using aqueous ethanol and the subsequent isolation of eugenol by acid-base extraction. The MAE allows for extraction of the essential oil in a fraction of the time of steam-distillation, which is commonly part of a second-year undergraduate laboratory experience. The experiment combines multiple lab techniques and reinforces the introduction of spectroscopy in first-semester organic chemistry.