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Alcohol Solubility
What is the structure for hexadecanol?
Hexadecane refers to 16 Carbons. The structure of n-hexadecanol is as follows:
CH3(CH2)15 OH
What would explain why it is a solid, rather than a liquid?
Hexadecanol is a solid because it has a bulky alkyl group in which all the Carbons are
having covalent bonds and as covalent compounds are more strong than the others so it is
a solid because of the more strong bondings in between carbon atoms.
How are ethanol, 1-octanol, propane-1,2,3-triol, and hexadecanol similar to their
corresponding hydrocarbons (ethane, octane, propane, & hexadecane)?
Ethanol and ethane are not having same physical or chemical properties except both have
2 carbon atoms.
Similarly, 1-octanol and octane don’t have same properties and neither propane-triol and
propane are similar to each other.
Whereas hexadecanol and hexadecane both are non-polar and insoluble in polar solvents.
Hexadecanol is non-polar as it has a bulky alkyl group.
Do some of these alcohols possess more hydrocarbon character than others? Which
ones? Why is that?
Yes, hexadecanol is having more hydrocarbon character than that of alcohol because of
the bulky alkyl group which contains 16 Carbon atoms.
How are they different from their corresponding hydrocarbons?
The given alcohols differ from their corresponding hydrocarbons mainly in their
chemical properties. As alcohols contain –OH functional group and can undergo various
types of reactions like nucleophilic reactions, substitutions, oxidations etc, whereas
hydrocarbons undergo entirely different types of reaction.
Are they all soluble in water?
Hydrocarbons are normally not soluble in water as water is polar and hydrocarbons are
non-polar.
Whereas, some of the alcohols like ethanol, propan triol are completely miscible in water
as these are also polar. Whereas , 1-octanol is partially miscible in water and hexadecanol
is insoluble in water because it is almost non-polar solid.
What about solubility in hexane?
As hexane is non-polar, so the molecules which have non-polar character will be soluble
in hexane.
Hexadecanol and 1-octanol are soluble in hexane, whereas ethanol and pran triol are
insoluble in hexane.