what experimental difficulty would you encounter if you had neglected to include a drying step before evaporating the ether solution of the neutral organic compound?

Water was added to the organic solvent ,but a drying agent wasn't added. So would the difficulty be a separation of layer and an increase in boiling point due to the water?

You don't provide enough information to answer the question. What neutral compound? What experiment did you do? What steps were involved?

we did an extraction of a mixture between neutral compound fluorene and an unknown carboxylic acid. Diethyl ether was used as the organic solvent while NaOH was used as the aqueous solvent. After extracting the unknown acid we also had to extract the neutral compound and to do that we were suppose to add water to wash the NaOH and then a drying agent was suppose to be added. What would happen if we didn't add the drying agent?

there would be impurites in ur in your crystals..therefore u may find a larger percent recovery that expected or there may be slight discoloration in your crystals.

Yes, neglecting to include a drying step before evaporating the ether solution of the neutral organic compound will introduce a few experimental difficulties. One of the primary difficulties you would encounter is the co-presence of water in the organic solvent.

Here's how you can identify the experimental difficulties:

1. Separation of Layers: If water is present in the organic solvent, it can form a separate layer due to its immiscibility with many organic solvents. This would make it difficult to isolate the organic compound during the separation process.

2. Increased Boiling Point: The presence of water in the organic solvent would result in an increased boiling point of the solvent mixture. This can lead to incomplete evaporation of the solvent during the drying process, making it challenging to obtain the pure organic compound.

3. Contamination: Water can also dissolve some organic compounds, causing contamination of the desired product. This can reduce the purity and yield of the organic compound obtained.

To mitigate these experimental difficulties, it is essential to include a drying step before evaporating the ether solution. This can be achieved by adding a drying agent, such as anhydrous sodium sulfate or magnesium sulfate, to remove the water from the organic solvent. The drying agent absorbs the water, helping to separate the solvent from any remaining water and allowing for efficient evaporation to obtain a pure organic compound.