Reflux, distil, separate, dry. Draw it so it would work.
Organic preparations turn up again and again in 9701 Paper 5: draw and label the reflux apparatus, explain why there is no naked flame, decide which layer is which in a separating funnel. Here you make propyl ethanoate from propan-1-ol and ethanoic acid. Watch the apparatus built step by step, then build it yourself and check it against the points the examiners look for.
Past-paper referenceOriginal experiment, wording and figures, written in the style of Cambridge AS & A Level Chemistry 9701 Paper 5. It is not copied from a past paper. The “what the examiners said” notes are our paraphrase of the Principal Examiner Reports for Teachers.
Practise next: 9701/52 May/June 2023, (alkaline hydrolysis under reflux, then recrystallising benzoic acid) · official past papers
Practise next: 9701/51 October/November 2024, (refluxing in a pear-shaped flask: complete and label the diagram) · official past papers
Practise next: 9701/51 May/June 2025, (a Grignard preparation with a condenser and a separating funnel) · official past papers
Examiner reports used: 9701 June 2023 (Papers 51 and 52), November 2024, March 2025 and June 2025.
This set-up builder needs JavaScript.
What a full-mark diagram shows
Heating under reflux
Pear-shaped or round-bottomed flask with anti-bumping granules, condenser fitted vertically and open at the top, heated by an electric heating mantle or water bath.
The condenser water
Cold water in at the bottom of the condenser jacket and out at the top, with both labelled on the diagram.
Distillation
Still head with the thermometer bulb level with the side arm, condenser sloping down, a flask to collect the distillate; collect the fraction at the right boiling point.
Separating funnel
Stopper, invert and shake, releasing the pressure; remove the stopper, run off the lower (denser) layer through the tap and keep the layer you need.
Habits the examiner reports keep asking for
Label the water flow. “Water in” at the bottom of the condenser and “water out” at the top is a mark point on its own.
Never seal heated apparatus. Say that pressure would build up, not just that gas must escape.
Name the flammable substance when you explain why there is no naked flame. Acids and alkalis are not flammable.
Choose the layer from the densities of the two liquids that form the layers, not the density of the product.
Reflux lets you heat for longer to speed up the reaction without losing volatile reactants or product.