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 natural drying agent. It has granule like

appearance so surface area of Na2So4 is not as
larger as MgSO4 and rate of absorption of water
is slower. It is only effective below about 30 °C,
but it can used with a variety of materials since it
is chemically fairly inert. Sodium sulfate is
added to the solution until the crystals no longer
clump together .
Procedure of using drying agent:

1) Add a small amount of the solid drying agent

directly to the organic solution. Swirl the
solution.
2) 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.