Yes, there was a difference in my results between the solubilities of benzophenone in methyl alcohol and benzophenone in hexane. Benzophenone [essentially nonpolar (slightly polar due to the C=O bond)] was soluble in methyl alcohol, but only partially soluble in hexane. The reason for this is that methyl alcohol has an intermediate polarity, whereas hexane is nonpolar. FINISH. At this point I got confused... if benzophenone is basically nonpolar and hexane is nonpolar, then why wasn't benzophenone fully soluble in hexane and why was it fully soluble in methyl alcohol, rather than only partially?
I have left your question for another volunteer. Perhaps Dr Russ will take a look at this. He is an organic chemist and I'm not.
Ok, thanks though.
The solubility of a compound in a particular solvent depends on the intermolecular forces between the solute particles and the solvent particles. In the case of benzophenone, as you mentioned, it is essentially nonpolar (with slight polarity due to the C=O bond).
Solubility in a solvent primarily occurs when the intermolecular forces between the solute particles and solvent particles are similar or stronger than the intermolecular forces within the solute or solvent itself.
In the case of benzophenone in methyl alcohol, although methyl alcohol is polar, it is not highly polar. It has an intermediate level of polarity due to the presence of the hydroxyl group (OH) in its structure. This means that the polar C=O bond in benzophenone can still interact with the polar molecules of methyl alcohol through dipole-dipole interactions. As a result, benzophenone can dissolve easily and completely in methyl alcohol.
On the other hand, hexane is a nonpolar solvent. Nonpolar solvents have weak intermolecular forces and lack polar groups. Despite benzophenone being a nonpolar molecule, it still has a small polar region due to the C=O bond. However, the polarity of benzophenone is not strong enough to form significant interactions with the nonpolar molecules of hexane. Therefore, while there may be some weak dispersion forces between benzophenone and hexane, these forces are not strong enough for benzophenone to dissolve fully in hexane. Hence, we observe partial solubility.
Overall, the solubility of benzophenone in different solvents is determined by the balance of intermolecular forces. In the case of benzophenone, its partial solubility in hexane can be attributed to the weaker intermolecular forces between benzophenone and the nonpolar hexane molecules compared to the intermolecular forces between benzophenone and the polar methyl alcohol molecules.