You find a very old bottle of aspirin and perform the ferric chloride test. A dramatic color change was observed. What happened to the aspirin? (Hint: the color change would be more obvious in a humid climate.)
Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid which is a derivative of salicylic acid. Salicylic acid contains a phenolic -OH groupwhich can form a purple complex with Fe^3+. However this phenolic -OH is not present in aspirin. So, it is expected to show no color with feCl3. however with time aspirin hydrolyses back to salicylic acid. Hydrolysis is more in a humic condition where H2O is present in large amount. So, a old bottle of aspin will react with Fe^3+ to show a purple color.
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