Steam Distillation of Cloves

Steam distillation of cloves produced 0.53g of an oil which contained in its IR spectrum the functional groups O-H (at 3520 cm-1), sp2 C-H (3080 – 3000 cm-1), aliphatic C-H (2980 – 2940 cm-1), and both alkene C=C (at 1640 cm-1) and aromatic C=C (at 1514 cm-1). The IR spectrum is attached to this report. These data are consistent with the structure of eugenol, shown in Figure 2 below:

In addition, the IR of the product from the steam distillation of cloves closely corresponds with that of an authentic sample of eugenol shown in the lab text.9 Therefore, it can be concluded that the oil which was isolated from cloves is in fact, eugenol.

0.53 g of eugenol was recovered from 5 g of cloves. This corresponds to a percent recovery of 7.46%:

Amt. Eugenol isolated 0.53 g

% Recovery = ------------------------------ = -------------- x 100 = 10.6%

Amt. Cloves used 5 g

In this experiment, it was shown that about 10.6% of an oil could be recovered from cloves by steam distillation. This oil was identified as