Chemical calculations 1

(concentration and dilution of solutions)

Pavla Balínová
 Contents:

➢ introductory information

➢ workbook to Course 1

➢ ways of expressing the concentration of solutions

• molarity
• mass concentration - unit conversion
• osmolarity
• percentage concentration

➢ dilution of solutions
Module: Cellular basis of medicine
Module: „Cell“
Course 1: Cell structure and heredity

Group teacher: Dr. Pavla Balínová

➢ email: pavla.balinova@lf3.cuni.cz
➢ room: 424 (4th floor, building A)
 Module: Cellular basis of medicine
winter semester
➢ Organising biochemistry classes:
• lectures
• seminars
• 2 practical exercises

➢ Credit requirements of biochemistry

in winter semester:
• all two practices completed + test
• clinical detective stories CDS 3, 4, 5
• tasks from biochemistry in Moodle

➢ Recommended literature:
• Rodwell Victor W.: Harper´s Illustrated Biochemistry, 31st ed.,
2018, ISBN 978-1259837937
• Pamela C. Champe, Richard A. Harvey: Lippincott´s Illustrated
Reviews - Biochemistry, ISBN 0-397-51091-8
 Module: Cellular basis of medicine
winter semester
Practical exercises in biochemistry
➢ Introduction to practical biochemistry classes (self-study) –
available in Vyuka application

➢ 2 laboratory tasks:
• Biochemistry practical 1: Determination of creatinine
concentration in urine (spectrophotometry)

• Biochemistry practical 2: Measurement of pH values in phosphate

buffers (potentiometry)

• Practical test in week 8 of the winter semester

 Module: Cellular basis of medicine
➢ Vyuka database:
• password access to the CAS
• information about individual teaching units
• test results
• workbooks to Courses 1, 2 and 3
• evaluation and performance of study duties for each
student

➢ Timetable – in electronic form

https://rozvrh.lf3.cuni.cz/
 Module: Cellular basis of medicine
Course 1: Cell structure and heredity

➢Workbook from BCH and molecular

biology to the Course 1
• download in Vyuka database (PDF document)
• contains: nomeclature of inorganic and organic
compounds, types of chemical reactions,
chemical calculations, tasks in molecular biology
Prefixes expressing the order of units
prefix abbreviation order of unit
giga- G 109
mega- M 106

kilo- k 103
deci- d 10-1
centi- c 10-2
milli- m 10-3

micro- µ 10-6
nano- n 10-9

pico- p 10-12

femto- f 10-15

atto- a 10-18
 Basic terms in chemical calculations
➢ Relative atomic mass Ar is a dimensioless physical quantity defined as ratio of the
average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a given sample to one unified atomic
mass unit u
(u = 1.66 x 10-27 kg is defined as being 1/12 of the atomic mass of a nuclide 126C)

➢ Relative molecular mass Mr is dimensionless physical quantity defined as ratio of the

average mass per molecule of a specified isotopic composition of a substance to 1/12 of the
atomic mass of a nuclide 126C

➢ Molar mass M (g/mol) is a physical property defined as the mass of a given substance
divided by the amount of substance
• expresses the weight of 1 mole of the substance in grams, its numerical value being equal
to the value of the relative molecular weight of the substance concerned

➢ Avogadro constant (number) N = 6.022 x 1023 particles in 1 mole

➢ Substance amount n (mol) is defined as the amount of substance that contains an equal
number of elementary entities as there are atoms in 12 g of the nuclide 126C
n (mol) = m (g) / M (g/mol)

• mmol, µmol, nmol, pmol, … are also used

 Ways of expressing the concentration of solutions

➢ Molar concentration = molarity

➢ Mass concentration
➢ Osmolar concentration = osmolarity
➢ Percentage concentration
 Ways of expressing the concentration of solutions

➢ Molar (substance) concentration = molarity c

indicates a number of moles of a substance per
liter of solution
• unit: mol/l = mol/dm3 = M
note: 1 M solution → solution concentration = 1 mol/l

c (mol/l) = n (mol) / V (l)

i.e number of moles of substance / 1000 ml of solution = 1 liter of solution

molecular mass (MW) = mass of one mole of substance in grams
 Molar concentration
Example: How many grams of NaOH is needed to prepare 1000 ml
of 1M NaOH solution if MW (NaOH) = 40 g / mol?
MW (NaOH)= 40 g /mol => 1M NaOH solution = 40 g NaOH / 1 liter of sol.

If we would like to prepare 0.1M NaOH solution:

1M NaOH solution = 40 g NaOH / 1 liter of solution
0.1 M NaOH solution = 4 g NaOH / 1 liter of solution

Example: How many grams of NaOH is needed to prepare

500 ml of 0.1M NaOH solution?
0.1M NaOH solution = 4 g NaOH / 1 liter of solution
2 g NaOH / 0.5 liter of solution
 Molar concentration - calculations
1) 17.4 g of NaCl is dissolved in 300 ml of solution. Calculate the molarity
of this solution. Mr (NaCl) = 58.

2) How many grams of glucose are required for preparation 1 l of 125 mM

glucose solution? Mr (glucose) = 180 (Workbook p. 27)
 Mass concentration
Mass concentration is the ratio of the mass of the solute to the
volume of the resulting solution.
The unit of mass concentration is e.g g/l or mg/l

Calculations:
Convert the mass concentration values of the following metabolites
occurring in blood plasma to the given units:
• urea 36.4 mg/100 ml = ........ mmol/l Mr = 60.0
• creatinine 1.5 mg/100 ml = ........ μmol/l Mr = 113.0
• glucose 0.9 g/1000 ml = ....... mmol/l Mr = 180.0
 Osmotic pressure and osmosis
Osmotic pressure π /pí/ is induced by the flow of solvent through
a semipermeable membrane into an environment where the pressure
of dissolved molecules or ions (solute) is higher
unit: pascal Pa
π=ix cx Rx T

Osmosis = the movement of a solvent from an area of low

concentration of solute to an area of high concentration of solute !
 Osmolarity and osmolality
If a substance does not dissociate → its molecule represents only one
osmotically active particle (e.g glucose, urea, albumin).
When a substance dissociates → its molecule represents as many
osmotically active particles as it dissociates (e.g NaCl).

➢ Osmolarity = number of moles of all particles (molecules,

ions = osmotically active particles) per one liter of solution
cosm (osmol/l) = i x c
i = number of particles formed by dissociation of one molecule,
c = molar concentration given in mol/l

➢ Osmolality = number of moles of osmotically active

particles in 1 kg of solution
 Osmolarity
Example 1: 1 M NaCl solution contains 2 osmol of solute per 1 liter of solution
NaCl → Na+ + Cl-

1 M NaCl dissociates to 1 osmol and 1 osmol

osmolarity = 2 osmol/l in total
Example 2: 1 M CaCl2 solution contains 3 osmol of solute per 1 liter of solution
CaCl2 → Ca 2+ + 2 Cl-

1 M CaCl2 dissociates t o 1 osmol 2 osmol

osmolarity = 3 osmol/l in total
Example 3: 1 M glucose solution shows the osmolarity equal to 1 osmol/l.
C6H12O6 → C6H12O6
1 M C6H12O6 doesn´t dissociate → o s m . = 1 osmol/l in total
 Osmolarity and isotonicity
➢ Osmolarity (osmol/l) = number of moles of substance that contribute to osmotic
pressure of solution
• is equal to product of molarity and number of particles formed by dissociation of
one molecule
• osmolarity of body fluids is usually reported in mosmol/l.
• the physiological osmolarity of the blood is in the range 280 – 295 mosmol/l
 Isotonic solutions with blood plasma
• 5% glucose solution is isoosmotic with blood plasma.
It is used to replenish body fluids, especially when losing
so-called "pure water"
• Saline solution (0.9% w/v of NaCl)

data with osmolality value

 Osmolarity - calculations
1) Calculate the osmolarity (in mosmol/l) in 0.1 M NaCl solution.
(Workbook p. 26)

2) Calculate the osmolarity of 0.3 M MgCl2 solution. (Workbook p. 26)

3) The osmolarity of Na2HPO4 solution is 0.9 osmol/l. What is the molarity of this
solution? (Workbook p. 26)
 Percentage concentration
➢ Percentage concentration (%)
• expresses the number of parts of the substance dissolved in 100 parts of total solution

• percentage concentration by weight per weight (w/w):

w (%) = (weight of solute / weight of total solution) x 100

• percentage concentration by volume per volume (v/v):

v (%) = (volume of solute / volume of total solution) x 100

• percentage concentration by weight per volume (w/v):

• cm = weight of solute / volume of total solution
• represents the fraction of the weight of the substance (solute) in the system and the
volume of the system, often expressed in units: g/dl; mg/dl; μg/dl
• the mostly commonly used expression of concentration in medicine
• also can be expressed in %: cm(%) = (weight of solute / volume of total solution) x 100
 Percentage concentration - calculations
1) How many grams of NaCl and how many grams of H2O are needed to prepare
600 g of 5% NaCl solution?

2) 16 g of glucose is administrated to the patient intravenously as first aid during

hypoglycemia. How many ml of 40% infusion solution of glucose will be
administrated to patient?
 Conversion of percentage concentration
to molar concentration and vice versa
➢ Density ρ /ró/ or d
• expresses the mass per unit volume of the substance
ρ = m (g) / V (cm3) → m = ρ x V
• unit: g/cm3 or kg/m3

➢ Conversion of molarity to percentage concentration (w/w)

% (w/w) = c (mol/l) x Mr
10 x ρ (g/cm3)

➢ Conversion of percentage concentration (w/w) to molarity

c (mol/l) = % x 10 x ρ (g/cm3)
Mr
 Conversion of concentrations - calculations
1) A 2 M H2SO4 solution shows density 1.1 g/cm3. What is the percentage
concentration by weight of this solution? Mr (H2SO4) = 98 (Workbook p. 27)

2) What is the molarity of 96 % H2SO4 solution? Density (96 % H2SO4) = 1.86 g/cm3,
Mr (H2SO4) = 98 (Workbook p. 27)
 Dilution and mixing of solutions
diluting the solution means reducing the concentration of solute,
but the substance amount (n) will remain the same!

1) mixing equation: m1 x p1 + m2 x p2 = p x (m1 + m2)

m = mass of mixed solution, p = percentage concentration

2) equation derived from the definition of dilution

n1 = n2 substance amount (n) will remain the same after dilution
c1 x V1 = c2 V2 X

3) expression of dilution, e.g 1:10 or 1:100

1 part (ml or g) of solution + defined number of parts (ml or g) of solvent =
diluted solution (sum of all parts)
Example: 1 part of solution + 9 parts of solvent = 10 parts of diluted solution
1 + 9 = 10, i.e solution is diluted in the ratio of 1/10 and is therefore 10x diluted
 Dilution and mixing of solutions -
calculations
1) A 3% hydrogen peroxide solution is used to disinfection. How many ml of a 30% stock
H2O2 solution is needed to prepare 500 ml of 3% H2O2 solution?
(Workbook p. 28)

2) 25 ml of 90% solution was mixed with 60 ml of 40% solution to obtain 30% solution.
What volume of 30% solution do you obtain and how many milliliters of water do you
need? (Workbook p. 28)
 Dilution and mixing of solutions -
calculations
3) Adrenaline (epinephrine) ampoule (V = 1 mL) contains 1 mg of effective
substance in 1 ml of solution for injection that corresponds to dilution 1:1000.
How many ml of adrenaline solution at the concentration 1 mg/ml and how
many ml of saline (0,9% NaCl solution) are needed to make 10 ml of diluted
adrenaline solution that final concentration should be 1:10000? What is
percent concentration of diluted solution? (Workbook p. 28)

4) What volume of a 1.5 M solution should be added to 2 l of 0.1 M solution of

the same substance so that its molarity will be 0.2 M? (Workbook p. 29)