I have Sodium Benzoate and Benzyl Alcohol in a solution. I used an ether to separate the two. I know the alcohol dissolved into the ether and benzoate stayed in the aqueous solution. However,
So my question is.. why the alcohol is able to dissolve better into ether than water?
hopefully this helps...
"Ether is the oxide of this base, and alcohol the hydrated oxide; that is, chemically regarded, the only difference between ether and alcohol is, that the latter contains one equivalent of water"
albumen . conservation-us . org/ library/ monographs/ sunbeam/ chap08. html
I'm not quite sure I quite understand. ^^;;.
I've done some googling and found that as alcohols get bigger, they lose their solubility in water because they are too big. Although, I know ether can dissolve the alcohols through hydrogen bonds (I think). I don't see why ether is more effective.
Remember that like dissolves like. It is true that the alcohol contains OH which is like water; however, think of the alcohol as ROH. As long as R (the hydrocarbon part of the alcohol) is small, it will be soluble in water. CH3OH, C2H5OH, C3H7OH (methyl, ethyl, propyl alcohols) are quite soluble in water because the R part is relatively small. However, with benzyl alcohol, that has the benzyl part for R (C6H5CH2OH). In effect, benzyl alcohol behaves less as an OH and more as the R part; therefore, it is more insoluble in water and more soluble in organic solvents like ether.
I see that makes sense! I didn't see why I didn't think of it haha. I kept thinking like dissolves like for polar/nonpolar which is irrelevant in this case. I wasn't sure if I should use the concept as you said. Thanks!
which is more soluble in water methyl fluoride or hydrogen flouride and why
The ability of a substance to dissolve in a particular solvent depends on the interactions between the solute (the substance being dissolved) and the solvent molecules. In this case, you have found that Benzyl Alcohol, the alcohol component, dissolved better in ether than in water.
The solubility of a compound in a solvent is determined by the similarity in their intermolecular forces. Benzyl Alcohol and ether both have similar types of intermolecular forces, which contributes to their ability to dissolve in each other. In this case, both compounds have non-polar intermolecular forces, such as London dispersion forces. These weak forces arise due to temporary fluctuations in electron distribution within molecules.
On the other hand, water is a highly polar solvent, where the molecules possess a partial positive charge on the hydrogen atoms and a partial negative charge on the oxygen atom. Sodium Benzoate, being an ionic compound, has polar ions (Na+ and C6H5COO-) and dissolves easily in water because of the strong attraction between the polar water molecules and the charged ions.
The reason the alcohol component (Benzyl Alcohol) dissolves better in ether than in water is due to the differences in the polarity between water and ether. Ether is a relatively non-polar solvent compared to water. It has weak London dispersion forces, similar to Benzyl Alcohol, which allows for a more efficient and favorable interaction between the solute and solvent molecules.
In summary, the better solubility of Benzyl Alcohol in ether compared to water is a result of the similarity in intermolecular forces between Benzyl Alcohol and ether, which are both relatively non-polar substances.