A practical solution to the problem of performing aqueous reactions for very sparingly soluble high-melting-point (VSSHMP) organic substrates has been developed, which entails mechanically stirring a mixture of the substrate, the corresponding reagent(s), water, catalytic Aliquat 336 and sand. When the melting points of the substrates which include steroids, ketones, aldehydes, aromatics and alkaloids are around 200 °C, the reactions can be performed at 20 °C. The substrate solubility can be as low as 1 × 10⁻¹⁰ mol L⁻¹.