Question

What purpose do each of the following play in the isolation and purification of ethyl 3- hydroxybutanoate?

Answer 1

Explanation:

-Filter help — delete some big unreacted, undesirable species (norit is probably from what you are sorting through, its only carbon which cleans up things)

— extract with DCM because you are probably in an aqueous phase, and some butanoate is in it

- Anhydrous sodium absorbs excess of  water (dries the material)

-evaporation in the hood to clear the DCM and crystallize the product.