Sunday, April 14, 2013

Drying agent

 

Drying agent is a chemical that usually used in absorbing the water present in the organic solvent. This is because the presence of water may cause the ineffective reaction or any other undesirable reactions.

The efficiency of drying agent is measured by capacity and rate. The maximum number of moles of water that the drying agent can absorb is called capacity. The rate of water absorption is another factor that affects the efficiency of drying agent. Some of the examples of drying agents are shown in below.

 

Magnesium Sulfate:

Advantage: Magnesium sulfate is a rapid and efficient drying agent with high capacity.

Disadvantage: Sensitive to epoxide, need to be filtered out due to its fine powder form

 

Sodium Sulfate:

Advantage: less reactive, present in granule form which is easier to be removed, high capacity  

Disadvantage: lower efficiency and lower completeness than magnesium sulfate

 

Calcium Sulfate:

Advantage: High completeness, high efficiency

Disadvantage: low capacity

 

Calcium Chloride:

Advantage: High completeness, high efficiency

Disadvantage: low capacity

 

Potassium Carbonate:

Advantage: moderate capacity, moderate efficiency

Disadvantage: Not sure

 

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