• Question: How long does it take to synthesise a compound?

    Asked by polymer princcess to Aaron, David, Elaine, Sarah, Zoe on 12 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by 456drua35, awesum person, kiwi, louisa.
    • Photo: Aaron Acton

      Aaron Acton answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      It varies, the actual chemical reaction can take seconds to hours depending on the reactivity of the starting materials, what usually takes the longest time is purifying the product from any by-products and unreacted starting material. There are very few reactions that produce the final product without any purification. Purification can again take minutes to hours depending on how dirty it is and how easy it is to seperate from the dirty stuff.

      I’d say on average I make 1-2 compounds per day 🙂

    • Photo: Zoe Roberts

      Zoe Roberts answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      It depends very much on what you are trying to make. Most reactions tend to react in minutes or hours depending on the reagents. However, making the molecule is the relatively easy part of the process. Once you have reacted your reagents you need to purify the product. This means removing any catalysts, solvents or by-products that have been used or formed during the reaction. Sometimes this is a straight forward process but there are some times where it can take longer.

    • Photo: David Foley

      David Foley answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      Agree with Zoe and Aaron – it is simple to put on a lot of reactions (usually, there are some types that require a lot of skill and experience) but is is purification that seperates the wheat from the chaff!

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