Making an early start on their University Preparation Program, eleven enthusiastic Chemistry students from Year 12 attended a Chemistry twilight practical session run by Southampton University a few weeks ago. The aim of such outreach events are to enable sixth form students to experience an undergraduate practical using equipment and techniques that are unavailable in a normal school setting, as well as being able to talk to undergraduate and PhD students about life at university.

As in previous years, students carried out an organic extraction of a natural product called trimyristin from nutmeg. Isolation of new or known chemicals from nature remains an important part of Chemistry. Nutmeg contains many chemicals and the ones that give flavour and smell are volatile (or have low boiling points). In addition, the nut is made of complex organic polymers that give nutmeg its woody nature and have much higher boiling points. Trimyristin is one of these non-volatile compounds and is a triglyceride whose fatty characteristics mean that it has potential as a lubricant additive in medicine tablet preparation, as well as an additive in cosmetics and in topical medicines (those applied directly to the skin).

As part of the practical, students first extracted a mixture of compounds including trimyristin using solvent extraction, gravity filtration and rotary evaporation followed by purification steps using crystallisation and vacuum filtration. The students then used thin layer chromatography, melting point determination and infrared spectroscopy to analyse the purity and structure of the pure compound they had isolated. As well as honing their practical skills, students enjoyed the opportunity to get real-life experience of techniques that are covered at A level such as infrared spectroscopy.