Question

Why is it possible to separate naphthalene and benzoic acid in this experiment? 4. With the acidification of the sodium bicarbonate solution, a gas is produced. Give a chemical equation to explain the formation of this gas.

Answer 1

The acid is soluble in aqueous base, because it reacts with the base to form a highly polar salt, sodium benzoate. So, aqueous base is used to remove the benzoic acid from the mixture of the two dissolved in methylene chloride.