Masterclass with Bath University

Year 13 Chemistry students travelled to the University of Bath this week for a Chemistry masterclass.

Their job was to identify what components make up a fictitious pain-killing drug called 'Bathenone' so that they could understand why it was so successful. The drug consisted of two active ingredients, aspirin and an unknown component which was either acetanilide or phenacetin. The students used techniques to separate the components based on solubility and acid-base properties. After separation of the components was complete they isolated the components and identified them through melting point determination and infra-red spectroscopy.

This hands-on experience provided valuable insights into chemical analysis and the pharmaceutical industry.