Comment · Fri, February 14, 2014
Issue with Caffeine HCL Solution
Original post in this thread
MisterYouAreSoDumb · 7 points
I am not a chemist by any means, so I am a little unclear about a couple things. I am trying to make a solution of caffeine HCL by doing an acid/base reaction with anhydrous caffeine and hydrochloric acid. I am doing this to increase the solubility of caffeine in water, as this is really the only way to get it in the concentrations I need.
So I slowly add 24 grams of caffeine to 30ml of 38% hydrochloric acid. Then I add water till the solution reaches a total volume of 120ml. At that point, it clears up and forms a perfect solution with no caffeine left suspended. I checked the pH of the solution, and it is neutral at 7. At this point I figure it worked properly, since the pH is neutral. However, the solution is super sour/acidic in taste. I double checked my pH test strips in pure water and a solution of citric acid and water, and they seem to be fine. The pure water gives the same reading as my caffeine HCL solution.
So a couple questions. First, is a solution of caffeine HCL going to be stable at room temperature, and be safe to consume? Two, why is it sour if the pH is neutral?
What they were answering
_julain · 1 points
http://lxsrv7.oru.edu/~alang/onsc/solubility/allsolvents.php?solute=caffeine
Ethanol/water 60:40 mix looks good, no? I doubt the same would hold true for a salt, though. You could get almost 100mg of caffeine in 10ml, right? I'm in class right now so my math-ing could be off.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
Alcohol could work. However, I am not sure on the legalities of us selling a solution with alcohol in it.