and can you please name those solutions?
2006-07-14 15:29:41 · 8 answers · asked by nila 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
An infinite number.
Imagine listing every solute that is soluble in alcohol. Then, consider all of the various alcohols that can act as solvents. What about mixed solvents where alcohol is just one of the solvents in the solution?
Oh, the list would be HUGE.
2006-07-14 15:46:49 · answer #1 · answered by Plasmapuppy 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
an uncalcuable number but not infinite, as a guess I'd venture the number to be in trillions (x10^12) to the quadrillions (x10^15) for just the simple solutions (2 to 5 compounds mixed). The definition of a solvent is the part of a solution comprising the greatest bulk percentage by volume. Each type of alcohol has different solvent properties while there are a great number of shared properties. This fact means that millions (and more) of compounds are dissolvable in each alcohol and there are thousands (and more) types of alcohol, and then you could even mix more than one two compounds.
2006-07-14 17:49:45 · answer #2 · answered by piercesk1 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depending on the type of alcohol, alcohols typically dissolve any compound that has a OH group, that is another alcohol. But it will dissolve much more than that. Because the Oxygen of the OH group has two lone pairs (electrons not used in bonds) it tends to attract and dissolve any molecule that has a positive end to it. The positive end is often the H of an OH group but it can be the H+ of an acid or the H of many other types of function groups.
Also if the hydrocarbon end of the alcohol is long enough, since it is non-polar, it will tend to also dissolve non-polar compounds like octane.
So alcohols can behave sort of like soaps, with the main difference in what is at the polar end of the molecule. This means that it can dissolve many more different compounds.
2006-07-14 18:14:30 · answer #3 · answered by Alan Turing 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Solvent" is the substance (we usually mean a liquid) which is the most abundant in a homogeneous mixture. Therefore any solution (homogeneous: not suspensions, emulsions or whatever) in which alcohol (by default ethyl alcohol, but could be any alcohol) is more than 50% can be defined as a solution in which alcohol is the solvent.
2006-07-14 23:04:05 · answer #4 · answered by ascaniosobrero 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think not that many. It is not necessary to use all the types of alcohols since they have similar properties for manufacturing purposes. You wouldn't really need decanol in order to solvate some salt or organic compound, like nucleophiles. I believe tert-butyl alcohol, propanol, butanol, methanol, ethanol, propylene glycol (a diol), isopropanol (2-propanol) are the most used alcohols since they are inexpensive and have low boiling points, therefore they can be used as solvents and then can be evaporated and reused, also they are miscible with water and easy to obtain.
2006-07-14 17:02:21 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
how can alcohol be a solvent of a solvent...the solution of this problem is zero
2006-07-14 17:00:14 · answer #6 · answered by wizard 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
anything thats soluble in water should be soluble at least to some degree in alcohol.
2006-07-14 16:30:22 · answer #7 · answered by The Frontrunner 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
93 solutions, i dont have time to
2006-07-14 17:03:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋