Answer to Question #207495 in General Chemistry for DANI

Question

he chemical formula for Thimerosal salt is C9H9HgNaO2S

Since organic mercury compounds are toxic, when producing the vaccine preservative Thimerosal, we don’t want to have any left over, and therefore want to consume all of the organic mercuric reagent in the reaction. 

1. As a pharmaceutical chemist, you begin with 5.00 g of the RS-HgC2H5 reagent. How much thiosalicylic acid, in grams, is needed to ensure that no excess organic mercury is present at the end of the reaction.

1. What mass of the thimerosal salt will be produced from your reaction. You will need to draw your products from the acid base neutralization reaction.
   
2. Write an executive summary of your results and justify why you have made the decisions that you did.

Answer 1

Thiosalicylic acid in grams needed =11.7g

Mass of the thimerosal salt=37.4g

An organomercury compound. This compound is a well-established antiseptic and antifungal agent. The pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company gave thiomersal the trade name Merthiolate.