Why should a solvent work better in terms of promoting the H2O to the dessicant? Simply placing the LA in a desiccator under vacuum and slight heating...
(can be improvised with RBF, ground-glass hose adaptor and heating mantle - filled with mol. sieves and containing a test tube/vial or similar with your ergot carboxyl compounds(?))
But be careful, this may be considered rocket science!
No, just joking. But I really think that dissolving the hydrate in DCM/similar wouldn't be of any advantage; and further the dehydration requires elevated temperatures
and reduced pressure to proceed, and I doubt that DCM or CHCl3 have such a great affinity for water that it will positively affect the drying process. Have you any reason to believe that solvent power in this case suffices instead of heating under high vacuum? Unless you have, I would say that the combo vacuum/heat and the H2O removal through vapor phase these two factors facilitate.
And molecular sieves are also a very suitable gas drying agent...
indole_amine