An industrial chemist synthesising a pharmaceutical compound calculates the theoretical yield of a reaction to be 45.0 g. After isolating and purifying the product, they obtain an actual yield of 31.5 g.
State two practical reasons why the actual yield of this reaction is less than the calculated theoretical yield.
157 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Chemistry 6.2 Quantitative analysis, covering 6.2.1 Concentration in mol dm⁻³ and titration calculations, 6.2.2 Percentage yield and why actual yield falls short, 6.2.3 Atom economy of a reaction, 6.2.4 Choosing a reaction pathway, and 6.2.5 Molar volume of gases and Avogadro's law. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.