Drying and assembling glassware

Glassware and normal syringes can be dried in an oven then cooled in a desiccator over P2O5 or self-indicating silica gel, but it is not advisable to heat microlitre syringes and these should be dried under vacuum in a desiccator. 

If you are going to use magnetic stirring, do not forget to include a stirrer bar before the apparatus is assembled and before the drying procedure is carried out, since the stirrer bar will also be covered in a film of moisture and adding it later is likely to introduce air and moisture into the system. 

It is not advisable to use grease for glassware assembly, since this will eventually find its way into your reaction product. If you have to use it, always use the minimum quantity possible and remove it carefully from the joint immediately after the reaction has been quenched. This can be done using a tissue dampened with chloroform or other halogenated solvent. It is important to do this before addition of an extraction solvent, or before pouring the reaction mixture through the joint. Rather than use grease, it is 

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