{"id":235,"date":"2016-07-28T15:26:48","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T15:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/chemsustainability\/?p=235"},"modified":"2016-08-08T10:41:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T10:41:34","slug":"waterless-condensers-turning-off-the-tap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/chemsustainability\/2016\/07\/28\/waterless-condensers-turning-off-the-tap\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterless Condensers – Turning off the Tap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essential to all life, water is the most important substance on Earth and yet it is so readily discarded.\u00a0A recent study<\/a>\u00a0suggests that human activities pushing loss of liquid freshwater\u00a0to an unsafe and unsustainable level. There are, however, measures that can be taken by chemists to use considerably less water.<\/p>\n

A traditional condenser is an integral piece of kit for any synthetic laboratory. While essential to synthesis, they are exceedingly wasteful. When left on for 6 hours, almost 350 L of water goes down the drain (based on\u00a0an average across\u00a0building 30). Throughout the building, enough water is used from these to fill\u00a0over 200 baths per week!<\/p>\n

There are, however, alternatives that have been recently purchased by the department – they require no running water.<\/em><\/p>\n

The CondenSyn\u2122<\/a>\u00a0is a \u00a0ribbed glass tube (see right) \u00a0with a large internal\u00a0surface area for condensation. The\u00a0Findenser\u2122<\/a>\u00a0also has a large internal surface area, but also has a water cooled jacket with “fins” to increase air cooling\u00a0(much like a car radiator).<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"condensyn\"<\/a>

CondenSyn\u2122 Close-up<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\"findenser\"<\/p>\n

Inside a Findenser\u2122 – the glass fins give a large\u00a0surface area<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"CONDENSERS<\/a>

Traditional Vs. Waterless Condensers<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"3

Left to Right: Findenser\u2122 , Traditional and CondenSyn\u2122 <\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

As part of an investigation into the new \u00a0equipment,\u00a0a reaction to synthesise a\u00a0heterocyclic ligand\u00a0was carried out\u00a0using the waterless condensers\u00a0( CondenSyn\u2122 and Findenser\u2122 ) and\u00a0comparing them to the traditional water condenser. They were heated to 70 degrees using a Methanol solvent.<\/p>\n

For this particular reaction, all three condensers worked well and gave no significant difference in the final outcome. The two waterless condensers \u2013 especially CondenSyn\u2122, were far easier to set up than the conventional one, with no need to fiddle around with tubing. Over the 7 hour reflux, the traditional condenser used over 500 L of water.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not perfect \u2013 the Findenser\u2122 is very heavy, which takes some getting used to;\u00a0they’re\u00a0not\u00a0suited\u00a0to all solvent systems either (although the majority of standard lab solvents are fine).\u00a0Considering the vast water savings and their overall superior user-friendliness, they would make a great addition to a synthetic laboratory. We are distributing waterless condensers throughout the department and are keen for new groups to try them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Some facts:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Dr Jon Kitchen’s group exclusively use these waterless\u00a0condensers.<\/em><\/p>\n