Work-up
Procedures for isolating and purifying products of a chemical reaction / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In chemistry, work-up refers to the series of manipulations required to isolate and purify the product(s) of a chemical reaction.[1] The term is used colloquially to refer to these manipulations, which may include:
- deactivating any unreacted reagents by quenching a reaction.
- cooling the reaction mixture or adding an antisolvent to induce precipitation, and collecting or removing the solids by filtration, decantation, or centrifugation.
- changing the protonation state of the products or impurities by adding an acid or base.
- separating the reaction mixture into organic and aqueous layers by liquid-liquid extraction.
- removal of solvents by evaporation.
- purification by chromatography, distillation or recrystallization.
The work-up steps required for a given chemical reaction may require one or more of these manipulations. Work-up steps are not always explicitly shown in reaction schemes. Written experimental procedures will describe work-up steps but will usually not formally refer to them as a work-up.