[atta001]

Hi All,

I have got 1-Butanol with me. The specifications on it indicate that the alcohol content is either 99% or higher. Rest is water  All I want is anhydros alcohol. I have CaCl2 with me but I have come to know it forms byprodcts. So which drying agent do you people recommend for drying 1-Butanol. Please also tell me the quantity of the drying agent required for a given sample of alcohol. I will be grateful.

Regards,

Atta.

[Mitch]

Look into usining molecular sieves, I don't know the exact prep.

[lemonoman]

I wonder if ordinary anhydrous sodium sulfate would work?  It's always seemed unreactive with organic compounds, and dries things nicely...

[atta001]

I wonder how to regenrate used or hydrated Sodium Sulfate. Any assistance.

[Garneck]

I wonder how to regenrate used or hydrated Sodium Sulfate. Any assistance.

Put it in an oven.

[xiankai]

is it possible to use conc. H2SO4 to dry the alcohol

all i know is that its used for dehydrating the water formed when making esters

[Dude]

It's covered in "Vogel's textbook of practical organic chemistry", a must have for anyone starting research involving organic chemistry preparations.

[movies]

Molecular sieves are probably the easiest way.  There are tables indicating which pore size will be best for selectively absorbing water in the presence of butanol.  My guess would be 3 angstrom.  They will need to be activated prior to use, so put some in a beaker in a drying oven for about 24 hours.  I prefer the pellet form (as opposed to the powder) for drying reagents.

Magnesium sulfate is a good alternative too.  It tends to work better than sodium sulfate, but other polar things tend to "stick" to it as well.  In this case, however, you have a truckload of butanol so you probably don't care too much about the percent recovery.

[Mitch]

Powdered mag sulfate will do that. The crystalline stuff will tend not to pull other polar agents out.