Solvents & water

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Solvents

A solvent is a substance that can dissolve or dilute gases, liquids or solids without causing chemical reactions between the solute and the dissolving substance. Usually, liquids such as water and liquid organic substances are used to dissolve other substances. However, solids can also dissolve other substances. For example, in hydrogen tanks of fuel cell-powered cars, gaseous hydrogen is dissolved in solid material (metal-organic framework compounds, or MOFs).

Chemistry
Although the solvent does not itself participate in the chemical reaction, it is very important for chemical reactions. The effects of the solvent vary and depend on the reaction. By dissolving reactants in a solvent, reactions become thermally controllable. Concentration data of substances dissolved in a solvent are valid only for a certain temperature because of temperature dependence.
The most important tasks of the solvent in chemical reactions are:

  • Convective heat and mass transfer
  • Stabilization of transition states of the reaction
  • Dilution to avoid side reactions


Solvents also play an important role in the purification and processing of reaction mixtures (downstream process). Here are some examples of important processes:

  • Precipitation
  • Crystallization
  • Recrystallization
  • Extraction
  • Chromatography


Dissolution properties
Quantitative prediction of dissolution properties is difficult and often defies intuition. General rules can be established, but these can only be used as a rough guide.

Polar substances generally dissolve well in polar solvents (e.g. salts in water). Non-polar substances generally dissolve well in non-polar solvents (e.g., non-polar organic substances in benzene or ether).
Solvents are usually divided into classes according to their physical properties. Such classification criteria include:

  • Boiling point
  • Permittivity
  • Flash point
  • Volatility
  • Viscosity
  • Polarity
  • CH acidity


Aprotic solvent
If a molecule does not have a functional group from which hydrogen atoms in the molecule can be split off as protons (dissociation), it is called an aprotic solvent. These are opposite to protic solvents.

Aprotic-unpolar
Alkanes are nonpolar because of the small difference in electronegativity between carbon and hydrogen. This makes all substances in these groups readily soluble in each other; they are very lipophilic (actually even more lipophilic than the very weakly polar, namesake fats) and very hydrophobic (water-repellent). However, not only water cannot dissolve them, but also all other strongly polar substances, such as short-chain alcohols, hydrogen chloride or salts. In the liquid, the particles are held together only by van der Waals forces. For this reason, the boiling temperatures for this group of substances are much lower than for permanent dipoles, compared to the size and mass of the molecule. Since the elimination of protons to form carbanions is only possible with extremely strong bases, they are aprotic. Also included in the group of aprotic-nonpolar solvents are compounds such as carboxylic acid esters or ethers, which contain polar bonds but are unable to dissolve ionic compounds due to their low permittivity.
Representatives of this group are:

  • Alkanes (kerosenes)
  • Alkenes (olefins), alkynes
  • Benzene and other aromatics with aliphatic and aromatic substituents
  • Carboxylic acid esters
  • Ethers, e.g. diethyl ether
  • Completely symmetrical molecules such as tetramethylsilane or carbon tetrachloride
  • Carbon disulfide, at high pressure also carbon dioxide
  • Halogenated hydrocarbons that are either completely nonpolar (like carbon tetrachloride) or only slightly polar (methylene chloride) despite the high electronegativity of the halogen in question, e.g. chlorine.
  • A special subgroup of halogenated hydrocarbons is formed by the perfluorinated hydrocarbons (e.g. hexafluorobenzene), which are not only nonpolar themselves, but also very poorly polarizable from the outside and therefore also tend to be poorly compatible with the other nonpolar solvents.


Aprotic-polar
However, if the molecule is substituted with strongly polar functional groups such as the carbonyl group, the nitro group or the nitrile group, the molecule exhibits a dipole moment, thus intermolecular electrostatic attraction of permanent dipoles is now added to the still existing (but much weaker) van der Waals forces. This results in a substantial increase in boiling point and, in many cases, a deterioration in miscibility with nonpolar solvents and an improvement in solubility of and in polar substances. Typical aprotic polar solvents have a permittivity above 15 and are capable of solvating cations. Since the anions are hardly solvated (bare anions), they exhibit high SN2 reactivity. Such solvents are excellent for performing nucleophilic substitutions under mild conditions. These include:

  • Ketones, e.g. acetone.
  • Lactones such as γ-butyrolactone
  • Lactams such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone
  • Nitriles such as acetonitrile
  • Nitro compounds such as nitromethane
  • Tertiary carboxylic acid amides such as dimethylformamide
  • Urea derivatives such as tetramethylurea or dimethylpropyleneurea (DMPU)
  • Sulfoxides such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
  • Sulfones such as sulfolane
  • Carbonic acid esters such as dimethyl carbonate or ethylene carbonate


Protic solvents
As soon as a molecule has a functional group from which hydrogen atoms in the molecule can be split off as protons (dissociation), it is called a protic solvent. These are opposed to the aprotic solvents.
The most important protic solvent is water, which (simplified) dissociates into a proton and a hydroxide ion.

Other protic solvents are, for example, alcohols and carboxylic acids. Here, the splitting off of the proton always occurs at the OH group, since the electronegative oxygen can readily absorb the resulting negative charge.

The extent to which the respective solvent dissociates is determined by the acidity (according to the acid-base concept of Brønsted and Lowry). It should be noted that hydrogen atoms bonded to carbon can also be split off as protons (CH acidity), but the acidity of these compounds is usually too low to allow appreciable dissociation in neutral medium. The release of these protons is only possible by very strong bases.

Polar protic solvents dissolve salts and polar compounds, whereas the solubility of nonpolar compounds is low.

Protic solvents are:

  • Water, the most important solvent of all, especially in animate nature.
  • Methanol, ethanol and other short-chain alcohols (the larger the C-scaffold, the less pronounced the polar character; cholesterol, for example, is an alcohol, but still highly lipophilic)
  • Primary and secondary amines
  • Carboxylic acids (formic acid, acetic acid)
  • Primary and secondary amides such as formamide
  • Mineral acids (sulfuric acid, hydrogen halides or hydrohalic acids)


Polarity scales

Reichardt dye
A well-known scale for the polarity of a solvent is the ET(30) or ETN scale. It is derived from empirical spectroscopic measurements. The ET(30) value is defined as the transition energy of the longest wavelength Vis/NIR absorption band in a solution containing the negative solvatochromic Reichardt dye (betaine 30) at normal conditions, in kcal-mol-1. The ETN value is the ET(30) value normalized to the polarity extrema of tetramethylsilane (=0) and water (=1).

Table with solvents and their data

Solvent Melting point
[°C]
Boiling point
[°C]
Flash point
[°C]
Density
[g/cm3]
at 20 °C
Permittivity
at 25 °C
Dipole moment
[· 10−30 Cm]
Refractive index
nD20
E τ ( 30 )
[kJ/mol]
Compressibility
[10−6 /bar]
Acetic Anhydride −73.1 139.5 49 10820 20.7 (19 °C) 9.41 1.3900 183.5 -
Acetone −95.4 56.2 −19 0.7889 20.70 9.54 1.3588 176.4 126
Acetonitrile −45.7 81.6 13 0.7857 37.5 (20 °C) 11.48 1.3442 192.3 115
Aniline −6.3 184 76 10217 6.89 (20 °C) 5.04 1.5863 185.2 -
Anisole −37.5 155.4 41 0.9961 4.33 4.17 1.5179 155.5 -
Benzene 5.5 80.1 −8 0.87565 2.28 0.0 1.5011 142.2 95
Benzonitrile −13 190.7 70 1.0102 (15 °C) 25.20 13.51 1.5289 175.6 -
Brombenzene −30.8 156 51 14950 5.40 5.17 1.5597 156.8 -
1-Butanol −89.8 117.3 34 0.8098 17.51 5.84 1.3993 209.8 -
tert-Butyl methyl ether (MTBE) −108.6 55.3 −28 0.74 - - 1.3690 145.2 -
γ-Butyrolactone −44 204–206 101 1.13 39.1 4.12 1.4360 -
Carbon Disulfide −110.8 46.3 −30 12632 2.64 (20 °C) 0.0 1.6319 136.3 -
Carbon Tetrachloride −23 76.5 15940 2.24 (20 °C) 0.0 1.4601 135.9 110
Chlorbenzene −45.6 132 28 11058 5.62 5.14 1.5241 156.8 -
Chloroform −63.5 61.7 14832 4.81 (20 °C) 3.84 1.4459 163.4 100
Cyclohexane 6.5 80.7 4.5 0.7785 2.02 (20 °C) 0.0 1.4266 130.4 118
Dibutyl Ether −98 142.5 25 0.764 4.34 (20 °C) 3.9 1.3990 187.6 -
1,2-Dichloroethane (Ethylendichloride) −35.3 83.5 13 12351 10.36 6.2 1.4448 175.1 -
Diethylen Glycol −6.5 244.3 124 1.1197 (15 °C) 7.71 7.71 1.4475 224.9 -
Diethyl Ether −116.2 34.5 −40 0.7138 4.34 (20 °C) 4.34 1.3526 144.6 -
Dimethylacetamide −20 165 66 0.9366 (25 °C) 37.78 12.41 1.4380 182.7 -
Dimethylformamide −60.5 153 67 0.9487 37.0 12.88 1.4305 183.1 -
Dimethyl Sulfoxide 18.4 189 88 11014 46.68 13.00 1.4770 188.1 -
1,4-Dioxane 11.8 101 12 10337 2.21 1.5 1.4224 150.0 -
Ethanol −114.5 78.3 18 0.7893 24.55 5.77 1.3614 216.9 114
Ethyl Acetate −83.6 77.06 −2 0.9003 6.02 6.27 1.3723 159.3 104
Ethylen Glycol −13 197 117 11088 37.7 7.61 1.4313 235.3 -
Ethylen Glycol Dimethyl Ether −58 84 −6 0.8628 7.20 5.70 1.3796 159.7 -
Formamide 2.5 210.5 175 11334 111.0 (20 °C) 11.24 1.4472 236.6 -
Glacial Acetic Acid 16.6 117.9 42 10492 6.15 (20 °C) 5.60 1.3716 214.0 -
n-Heptane −91 98 −4 0.684 1.97 0.0 1.3870 130.1 120
n-Hexane −95 68 −20 0.6603 1.88 0.0 1.3748 129.2 150
Methanol −97.8 64.7 6.5 0.7914 32.70 5.67 1.3287 232.0 120
3-Methyl-1-Butanol (Isoamyl Alcohol) −117.2 130.5 42 0.8092 14.7 6.07 1.4053 196.5 -
Methyl Ethyl Keton (Butanone) −86.3 79.6 −4 0.8054 18.51 (20 °C) 9.21 1.3788 172.6 -
2-Methyl-2-Propanol (tert-Butanol) 25.5 82.5 9 0.7887 12.47 5.54 1.3878 183.1 -
Methylene Chloride (Dichloromethane, DCM) −95.1 40 13266 8.93 5.17 1.4242 171.8 -
N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) −24 202 245 1.03 32.2 4.09 1.4684 -
N-Methylformamide −3.8 183 111 1.011 (19 °C) 182.4 12.88 1.4319 226.1 -
Nitrobenzene 5.76 210.8 81 12037 34.82 13.44 1.5562 175.6 -
Nitromethane −28.5 100.8 35 11371 35.87 (30 °C) 11.88 1.3817 193.5 -
n-Pentane −130 36 −49 0.6262 1.3580 129.7 -
Petrol Ether 25–80 -26 0.63–0.83
Piperidine −9 106 4 0.8606 5.8 (20 °C) 3.97 1.4530 148.4 -
Propanol −126.1 97.2 24 0.8035 20.33 5.54 1.3850 211.9 100
2-Propanol (Isopropyl Alcohol) −89.5 82.3 16 0.7855 19.92 5.54 1.3776 203.1 100
Propylene Carbonate (4-Methyl-1,3-Dioxol-2-one) −48.8 241.7 130 12069 65.1 16.7 1.4209 195.6 -
Pyridine −42 115.5 23 0.9819 12.4 (21 °C) 7.91 1.5095 168.0 -
Quinoline −15.6 238 101 10929 9.00 7.27 1.6268 164.7 -
Sulfolane 27 285 177 1.261 (25 °C) 43.3 (30 °C) 16.05 1.4840 183.9 -
Tetrachloro Ethene −19 121 16227 2.30 0.0 1.5053 133.3 -
Tetrahydrofuran (THF) −108.5 66 −22.5 0.8892 7.58 5.84 1.4070 156.3 -
Toluene −95 110.6 7 0.8669 2.38 1.43 1.4961 141.7 87
1,1,1-Trichloro ethane −30.4 74.1 13390 7.53 (20 °C) 5.24 1.4379 151.3 -
Trichlorethene −73 87 14642 3.42 (16 °C) 2.7 1.4773 150.1 -
Triethylamine −114.7 89.3 −7 0.7275 2.42 2.90 1.4010 139.2 -
Triethylene Glycol −5 278.3 166 1.1274 (15 °C) 23.69 (20 °C) 9.97 1.4531 223.6 -
Triethylene Glycol Dimethyl Ether (Triglyme) 222 113 0.98 7.5 1.4233 161.3 -
Water 0.0 100 0.9982 78.39 6.07 1.3330 263.8 46



Table of alcoholic solvents and their evaporation rates relative to acetic acid n-butyl ester (= 1)

Solvent Boiling point [°C] Evaporation rate
tert-Amyl Alcohol 102 0.93
Benzyl Alcohol 205 0.007
1-Butanol 118 0.44
2-Butanol 100 0.81
tert-Butanol 83 0.95
Cyclohexanol 161 0.05
1-Decanol 231 0.001
Diacetone Alcohol 166 0.14
Ethanol 78 1.6
2-Ethyl-1-Butanol 146 0.11
2-Ethylhexanol 185 0.02
Hexanol 148 0.096
Methanol 65 2.1
1-Octanol 196 0.007
2-Octanol 177 0.018
4-Methyl-2-pentanol (MIBC) 132 0.3
1-Pentanol (Amyl Alcohol) 137 0.2
1-Propanol 97 0.86
2-Propanol 82 1.4
2-methyl-1-Propanol 108 0.62
Tetrahydrofurfuryl Alcohol 178 0.03