1-(3-Dimethylaminopropyl) – 3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride, usually known as water soluble carbodiimide, EDCHCl, EDAC HCl is a versatile modern coupling agent for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals as a coupling reagent that generates a urea by-product which can be easily removed from the reaction media by extraction with water. It is an easily handled solid which is now replacing (and is often superior to) N,N’-DiCyclo HexylCarbodiimide (DCC).
EDC has a high solubility in water (> 200g/l) and is also soluble in a variety of organic solvents e.g. dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran and dimethylformamide.