Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Drying agent for epoxide

Bronstein - 22-1-2012 at 13:56

I have been searching for information on what is a suitable drying agent for an epoxide but found nothing. Would CaCl2 be suitable? For example this document (http://www.mercury-ltd.com/admin/userfiles/image/Information...) mentions that CaCl2 is suitable for ethers but not ketones, aldehydes etc, some other documents say it cannot be used for oxygen containing substances. An epoxide is kinda like an ether, only more reactive, so I'm not too sure.

Perhaps potassium carbonate?

Any suggestions?

[Edited on 22-1-2012 by Bronstein]

Mumbles - 26-1-2012 at 02:13

It depends on the epoxide. Typically they're dried over something like sodium, fused KOH, or CaH2 and fractionally distilled. One or two mention dry Na2SO4 if you want to go more OTC.