[Rameo]

Greetings! For my lab report I need to answer the following question:
"Upon completion of the reaction (before filtration), an additional 4.0 mL of 1.0 M NaOH/EtOH was added to the reaction.  What was the purpose of this step?  Include a chemical reaction as part of your answer."

My initial guess was that we use solvent to wash off the condensed on the reflux tube compounds, but this "Include a chemical reaction as part of your answer." kind of negates this variant.

[chenbeier]

If you add NaOH, what does this chemical normally do.

[Rameo]

If you add NaOH, what does this chemical normally do.

Well, it may neutralize acid or increase pH of the solution... But the correct answer for this one is that it deprotonates something, right?