How to Dry Organic Solvents

For a lot of purposes, you need dry solvents (no water) so in this video i show how to dry some Acetone using Anhydrous copper Sulfate... Now copper sulfate cant be used in all solvents because it may react or dissolve... but on my blog page, i do have a list of organic solvents and salts that can be used so check it out, and if you want me too add something, just comment on it and ill add it in.

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Science & Technology

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• How-to
• Dry
• Solvents
• Organic
• chemistry
• inorganic
• copper
• sulfate
• anhydrous
• water
• H2O
• CuSO4
• alchemist
• toothpick93
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[98JMA]

It's usually pretty easy to figure out if a solid will dissolve in a solvent, just look at their difference in polarity.

[toothpick93]

@98JMA Ive never learned chem in school so i wouldn't know... would you be able to elaborate that for me... if u don't mind explaining in short how to work it out

[hustal69]

@toothpick93 is the Copper Sulphate Pentahydrate the same than the one you using?

[toothpick93]

@hustal69 Yes and No. it is the same compound, but mine is the anhydrous salt, Pentahydrate still has water in so if you want the same one i was using, heat yours up till it turns whitew

[98JMA]

This really is only scratching the surface of this stuff - it is also useful in explaining things like solvent miscibility. Also, the mid-range polarity solvents, such as esters and chlorocarbons, can be difficult to predict for -  a compound may dissolve, or it may not.

[98JMA]

@98JMA

So, take copper sulfate (CuSO4) - it is an ionic compound, so it will dissolve in polar solvents such as water but not in non-polar solvents such as the octane.

Then, take boron trinitride (BN3) - it is a pure covalent compound, so it will dissolve in non-polar solvents such as octane, but not in polar solvents such as water.

[98JMA]

@98JMA

But, an alkane such as n-octane is non-polar (the charges are even across all parts of its molecules), so it will be better at dissolving other non-polar things, such as covalent compounds.

[98JMA]

@98JMA

and non-polar solvents are better at dissolving non-polar compounds. Simple really.

The most polar common solvent is water, followed by amides, followed by alcohols, followed by ketones, followed by esters, followed by chlorocarbons, followed by ethers, followed by aromatics, followed by alkanes.

So, basically, because water is polar (there are - charges around the oxygen and + around the hydrogens), it will be better at dissolving other polar things, such as ionic compounds.

[98JMA]

@toothpick93

OK . . .polarity, in a nutshell, is basically how the charges are distributed across a molecule. If they are equal all over the surface of the molecule, then it is non-polar. If they are inequal across the molecule, it is polar.

Ionic compounds are nearly always polar, because the electrons will be transferred from one side to another.

Covalent compounds are non-polar, as the electrons are shared in the middle.

Polar solvents are better at dissolving polar compounds

[thegodofchemistry]

good video with lots of information