Creatine Introduction: is a naturally occurring organic acid that is absorbed through food such as meat or fish. However, when food intake is low, creatine is produced from glycine, arginine, and methionine in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. It provides the energy necessary for strenuous muscle contractions and enhances performance during highintensity exercises. Creatine is an important molecule because it increases aerobic recovery and protein synthesis. Because of this, creatine has been used in dietary supplements and supplements for athletes. In this lab sarcosine and cyanamide will be used to synthesis creatine. The mechanism for this reaction is shown below. Once synthesized an NMR and IR analysis will be conducted on the product. Also the melting point will be determined and the percent yield will be calculated.
Procedure and Data/Observations: The procedure for this experiment was taken from the print out. First, 235 mg of sarcosine (2.64 mmol) and 0.5 mL of distilled water were added to a 10 mL roundbottom flask. Next, 149 mg of NaCl and a mircroscale stir bar were added, and the mixture was stirred. In a small beaker 198 mg of cyanamide (4.69 mmol) and 0.2 mL of distilled water were added together. Then, drop one of concentrated ammonium hydroxide was added, the container was swirled, and the cyanamide mixture was added to the sarcosine mixture. The mixture was then allowed to stir for one hour, and then allowed to sit for a week. After one week a precipitate appeared. A purification process was carried out by using 1.5 mL of boiling distilled water, and the solution was allowed to cool to room temperature then put in an ice bath for five minutes. The precipitate was isolated via vacuum filtration with a Hirsch funnel and washing with small portions of distilled water. The white crystals were transferred to a tarred watch glass (50.955 g) and allowed to dry. Once dry the weight of the crystals synthesized was found (273 mg). An NMR and IR analysis was done on the product. For the IR anaylsis several key peaks include one at 3103 cm-1, 1683 cm-1, 1426 cm-1, and 1389 cm-1. For NMR there is a large singlet at approximately 3.3 ppm, and a doublet at 2.5 ppm. However, for both NMR and IR analysis the results were not very conclusive. This will be discussed later. For the melting point determination at approximately 230 C the product still had not melted. Results/Discussion/Conclusion: The calculated percent yield is