Caffeine can be extracted from tea bags using liquid-liquid extraction. After extracting the tea in hot water, sodium carbonate can be added to form the starting aqueous solution. In a separatory funnel containing 20 mL of diethyl ether, the same volume of aqueous solution will be added. The same procedure will be done in another separatory funnel but this time the organic solvent is hexane. Both separatory funnels will be shaken to release the pressure, and let stand to promote layer separation. The organic layers now containing caffeine will be separated into separate beakers. The beakers were then dried using calcium chloride (CaCl2). The beakers containing both solvents will be dried to obtain the isolated caffeine. Why is it important to release the pressure by venting out the separatory funnel? How will this affect the extraction when bypassed?
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