1.4.5: Reaction Yields

Limiting Reactant

Consider another food analogy, making grilled cheese sandwiches (Figure 1.4.5.1):

[latex]\text{1 slice of cheese} + \text{2 slices of bread} \rightarrow \text{1 sandwich} \label{4.5.A}[/latex]

Stoichiometric amounts of sandwich ingredients for this recipe are bread and cheese slices in a 2:1 ratio. Provided with 28 slices of bread and 11 slices of cheese, one may prepare 11 sandwiches per the provided recipe, using all the provided cheese and having six slices of bread left over. In this scenario, the number of sandwiches prepared has been limited by the number of cheese slices, and the bread slices have been provided in excess.

Consider this concept now with regard to a chemical process, the reaction of hydrogen with chlorine to yield hydrogen chloride:

[latex]\ce{H2}(g) + \ce{Cl2}(g)\rightarrow \ce{2HCl}(g) \nonumber[/latex]

The balanced equation shows the hydrogen and chlorine react in a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio. If these reactants are provided in any other amounts, one of the reactants will nearly always be entirely consumed, thus limiting the amount of product that may be generated. This substance is the limiting reactant, and the other substance is the excess reactant. Identifying the limiting and excess reactants for a given situation requires computing the molar amounts of each reactant provided and comparing them to the stoichiometric amounts represented in the balanced chemical equation.

For example, imagine combining 6 moles of H₂ and 4 moles of Cl₂. Identifying the limiting reactant involves comparing the amount of product expected for the complete reaction of each reactant. Each reactant amount is used to separately calculate the amount of product that would be formed per the reaction’s stoichiometry. The reactant yielding the lesser amount of product is the limiting reactant.

For the example in the previous paragraph, the complete reaction of the hydrogen would yield

[latex]\mathrm{mol\: HCl\: produced=6\: mol\:H_2\times \dfrac{2\: mol\: HCl}{1\: mol\:H_2}=12\: mol\: HCl} \nonumber[/latex]

The complete reaction of the provided chlorine would produce

[latex]\mathrm{mol\: HCl\: produced=4\: mol\:Cl_2\times \dfrac{2\: mol\: HCl}{1\: mol\:Cl_2}=8\: mol\: HCl} \nonumber[/latex]

The chlorine will be completely consumed once 8 moles of HCl have been produced. Since enough hydrogen was provided to yield 12 moles of HCl, there will be non-reacted hydrogen remaining once this reaction is complete. Chlorine, therefore, is the limiting reactant and hydrogen is the excess reactant (Figure 1.4.5.2).  To determine the amount of excess reactant that remains, the amount of hydrogen consumed in the reaction can be subtracted from the starting quantity of hydrogen. 

The amount of hydrogen consumed is

 [latex]\mathrm{mol\: H_2\: produced=8\: mol\:HCl\times \dfrac{1\: mol\: H_2}{2\: mol\:HCl}=4\: mol\: H_2} \nonumber[/latex]

Subtract the hydrogen consumed from the starting quantity

[latex]\mathrm{mole\: of\: excess\:H_{2}=6\:mol\:H_{2}\:starting\:-\:4\:mol\:H_{2}\:consumed\:=\:2\:mol\:H_{2}\; excess} \nonumber[/latex] 

Percent Yield

The amount of product that may be produced by a reaction under specified conditions, as calculated per the stoichiometry of an appropriate balanced chemical equation, is called the theoretical yield of the reaction. In practice, the amount of product obtained is called the actual yield, and it is often less than the theoretical yield for a number of reasons. Some reactions are inherently inefficient, being accompanied by side reactions that generate other products. Others are, by nature, incomplete (consider the partial reactions of weak acids and bases discussed earlier in this text). Some products are difficult to collect without some loss, and so less than perfect recovery will reduce the actual yield. The extent to which a reaction’s theoretical yield is achieved is commonly expressed as its percent yield:

[latex]\mathrm{percent\: yield=\dfrac{actual\: yield}{theoretical\: yield}\times 100\%} \nonumber[/latex]

Actual and theoretical yields may be expressed as masses or molar amounts (or any other appropriate property; e.g., volume, if the product is a gas). As long as both yields are expressed using the same units, these units will cancel when percent yield is calculated.

Green Chemistry and Atom Economy

The purposeful design of chemical products and processes that minimize the use of environmentally hazardous substances and the generation of waste is known as green chemistry. Green chemistry is a philosophical approach that is being applied to many areas of science and technology, and its practice is summarized by guidelines known as the “Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry”. One of the 12 principles is aimed specifically at maximizing the efficiency of processes for synthesizing chemical products. The atom economy of a process is a measure of this efficiency, defined as the percentage by mass of the final product of a synthesis relative to the masses of all the reactants used:

[latex]\mathrm{atom\: economy=\dfrac{mass\: of\: product}{mass\: of\: reactants}\times 100\%} \nonumber[/latex]

Though the definition of atom economy at first glance appears very similar to that for percent yield, be aware that this property represents a difference in the theoretical efficiencies of different chemical processes. The percent yield of a given chemical process, on the other hand, evaluates the efficiency of a process by comparing the yield of product actually obtained to the maximum yield predicted by stoichiometry.

The synthesis of the common nonprescription pain medication, ibuprofen, nicely illustrates the success of a green chemistry approach (Figure 1.4.5.3). First marketed in the early 1960s, ibuprofen was produced using a six-step synthesis that required 514 g of reactants to generate each mole (206 g) of ibuprofen, an atom economy of 40%. In the 1990s, an alternative process was developed by the BHC Company (now BASF Corporation) that requires only three steps and has an atom economy of ~80%, nearly twice that of the original process. The BHC process generates significantly less chemical waste; uses less-hazardous and recyclable materials; and provides significant cost-savings to the manufacturer (and, subsequently, the consumer). In recognition of the positive environmental impact of the BHC process, the company received the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greener Synthetic Pathways Award in 1997.

Summary

When reactions are carried out using less-than-stoichiometric quantities of reactants, the amount of product generated will be determined by the limiting reactant. The amount of product generated by a chemical reaction is its actual yield. This yield is often less than the amount of product predicted by the stoichiometry of the balanced chemical equation representing the reaction (its theoretical yield). The extent to which a reaction generates the theoretical amount of product is expressed as its percent yield.

Key Equations

• [latex]\mathrm{percent\: yield=\left(\dfrac{actual\: yield}{theoretical\: yield}\right)\times 100}[/latex]

Glossary

actual yield

amount of product formed in a reaction

excess reactant

reactant present in an amount greater than required by the reaction stoichiometry

limiting reactant

reactant present in an amount lower than required by the reaction stoichiometry, thus limiting the amount of product generated

percent yield

measure of the efficiency of a reaction, expressed as a percentage of the theoretical yield

theoretical yield

amount of product that may be produced from a given amount of reactant(s) according to the reaction stoichiometry