Add 0.5 g of anhydrous sodium sulfate to the combined dichloromethane extracts in
the 25 ml Erlenmeyer flask. Swirl the contents of the flask. The anhydrous sodium
sulfate will absorb the small amount of water that is dissolved in the dichloromethane
and small amounts of water from the aqueous layer that may have gotten into the flask
by accident. [If you collected a substantial amount of emulsion in the Erlenmeyer flask,
the sodium sulfate should help to “break” the emulsion. You may need to separate the
aqueous material from the dichloromethane solution at this point. Seek your instuctor’s
help.]