Cooling bath

), which transfers heat between the bath and the vessel; (3) an additive to depress the melting point of the solid/liquid system.

Mixing solvents creates cooling baths with variable freezing points.

Relative to traditional cooling baths, solvent mixtures are adaptable for a wide temperature range.

However, adding a salt such as sodium chloride will lower the temperature through the property of freezing-point depression.

The American Chemical Society notes[citation needed] that the ideal organic solvents to use in a cooling bath have the following characteristics: In some cases, a simple substitution can give nearly identical results while lowering risks.

A typical experimental setup for an aldol reaction . Both flasks are submerged in a dry ice/acetone cooling bath (−78 °C) the temperature of which is being monitored by a thermocouple (the wire on the left).