Faster and Greener Chemical Reaction Workup Using Silicone Elastomer-Coated Glass Powders

We have developed a substantially faster and greener technique for routine chemical reaction workups. We use silicone elastomer-coated glass powder (“FastWoRX”) as an absorbent to extract organic products from a quenched aqueous reaction mixture. After filtration, FastWoRX powder loaded with organic products can serve as a convenient input for flash chromatographic separations. With this technique, tedious and solvent-consuming liquid–liquid extractions are replaced by a simple filtration. Use of FastWoRX reduces solvent use and the E-factor by up to an order of magnitude compared to traditional liquid–liquid extraction-based workup.