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Perkin triangle



Perkin triangle

Perkin Triangle Distillation Setup

1: Stirrer bar/anti-bumping granules 2: Still pot 3: Fractionating column 4: Thermometer/Boiling point temperature 5: Teflon tap 1 6: Cold finger 7: Cooling water out 8: Cooling water in 9: Teflon tap 2 10: Vacuum/gas inlet 11: Teflon tap 3 12: Still receiver

Uses Distillation
Inventor William Henry Perkin
Related Vacuum distillation

A Perkin triangle a piece of specialist distillation apparatus invented by William Henry Perkin FRS, and which was presumably originally triangular in shape. The image right is a more modern version of the device in which the glass taps have been replaced with more air-tight Teflon taps.

Some compounds have high boiling points as well as being air sensitive. A simple vacuum distillation system can be used, whereby the vacuum is replaced with an inert gas after the distillation is complete. However, this is a less satisfactory system if one desires to collect fractions under a reduced pressure. To do this a "pig" adaptor can be added to the end of the condenser, or for better results or for very air sensitive compounds a Perkin triangle apparatus can be used.

The Perkin triangle, has means via a series of glass or Teflon taps to allows fractions to be isolated from the rest of the still, without the main body of the distillation being removed from either the vacuum or heat source, and thus can remain in a state of reflux. To do this, the sample is first isolated from the vacuum by means of the taps, the vacuum over the sample is then replaced with an inert gas (such as nitrogen or argon) and can then be stoppered and removed. A fresh collection vessel can then be added to the system, evacuated and linked back into the distillation system via the taps to collect a second fraction, and so on, until all fractions have been collected.


 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Perkin_triangle". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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