When the water is absorbed into the inorganic compound, the salt retains its solid state and can be removed by decanting or gravity filtration. The drying agent can be regenerated by heating it to a high temperature. Listed below are a few drying agents that are commonly used by organic chemists. Organic liquids are considered to be wet if they contain water. Realize that the organic liquid will still be a liquid after it is dried.
Magnesium sulfate is a great drying agent.
It has a high capacity, is complete in its drying and is rapid. Capacity refers to how much water per gram the drying agent holds and complete means that drying equilibrium favors the hydrate. The only disadvantages to using magnesium sulfate is that it is normally available in a powder form and must be filtered out. More importantly, magnesium is a very strong Lewis acid and as such, is not inert to all functional groups. For example, epoxides are sensitive to magnesium.