Question

1.00 gram of a compound requires the following quantities of solvent to dissolve: 147.0 mL of water, 8.10 mL of chloroform, 37.0 mL of diethyl ether, or 86.0 mL of benzene. Calculate the partition coefficient of the compound between chloroform and water, ethyl ether and water, and benzene and water. Which solvent would you choose to extract the compound from an aqueous solution?

Answer 1

Answer:

Partition coefficients are:

Chloroform-Water: 18.1

Diethyl ether-Water: 3.97

Benzene-Water: 1.71

You would choose chloroform to extract the compound

Explanation:

Partition coeffcient is defined as the ratio between solubility in g/mL of an organic compound and concentration of the solubility in an aqueous solution.

Solubility of the compound in the solvents is:

Water: 1g / 147.0mL = 6.80x10⁻³g/mL

Chloroform: 1g / 8.10mL = 0.123g/mL

Diethyl ether: 1g / 37.0mL = 0.0270g/mL

Benzene: 1g / 86.0mL = 0.0116g/mL

Partition coefficients are:

Chloroform-Water: 18.1

Diethyl ether-Water: 3.97

Benzene-Water: 1.71

The higher partition coefficient, the best extraction because the compound will have more affinity with this solvent in which the compound has the best solubillity.

Chloroform has the higher partition coefficient because has the higher solubility. That means chloroform is the solvent you would choose to extract the compound from an aqueous solution