Liquid-liquid Washing

PHARM 309

Extraction VS Washing
Extraction: Pulling the desired compound out of

the mixture. Washing: Pulling unwanted impurities away from the desired compounds.

Acetic anhydride

Phenol

Triethylamine

Phenolacetate Soluble in diethyl ether insoluble in water

Impurities
Acetic acid
o NaHCO3 saturated solution can be used to wash

Triethylamine
o Dilute solution (10%) of HCl can be used to wash

Ether is sparingly soluble in water (5.6ml/100 mL) Possible problems ?? Solutions ??

Drying Agent
A drying agent is usually an anhydrous inorganic salt which reacts with the water present to form a hydrate. The process of synthesizing and isolating an organic compound often results in an organic compound or solution contaminated with traces of water. For instance, in aqueous extractions some water will be transferred into the organic phase because of the partial miscibility of the organic phase and water. Also, many reactions themselves are performed in an aqueous solution. This water must be removed before the required compound can be properly characterized.

There are various ways of removing water and other impurities from a solution. If water is one of the products, it also has a detrimental effect on the yield and/or reaction rate. Drying agents are distinguished by their capacity (the amount of water they can absorb), the rate at which they absorb the water, and their intensity (or completeness), which is the amount of water left behind in the solvent at equilibrium.
Two most common drying agents are MgSO4 and Na2SO4.

MgSO4
It absorbs water from the organic compound. It is an acidic compound and if the compound is basic then it will react with the basic compound present in the solvent. MgSO4 should be used on case of acidic compound. It has larger surface area because it is a powdered material. So after absorption it forms clump. As it has larger surface area so it can absorb water rapidly.

Na2SO4
It is a neutral drying agent. It can used with a variety of materials since it is chemically fairly inert. It has granule like appearance so surface area of Na2SO4 is not as larger as MgSO4 and rate of absorption of water is slower.

Procedure of using drying agent:

Add a small amount of the solid drying agent directly to the organic solution. Swirl the solution. Observe the drying agent; if it is all clumped together and when it is free-flowing.

There is no set rule as to how much drying agent needs to be added. The amount required depends on the amount of water in the solvent solution which you are drying, and this amount varies from experiment to experiment. Use as much as it takes to dry the solution.
In most cases, drying is as complete as it will get in 20 minutes. When drying is complete, you need to remove the dried organic solution from the drying agent.