A student tried to dissolve 5.0 grams of impure acetanilide in 50 Ml of hot water. However was not able to get it to dissolve. Why not?

What would you do to get it to dissolve??

1 answer

Acetanilide is much less soluble in water than this, about 1g per 200 ml of cold water.

There are a couple of ways to get it to dissolve, depending on why it needs to be dissolved.

If the intention is to recrystalise it then heating the water will help dissolve the sample.

If a cold water solution is needed then more water needs to be added.

If a solution is needed, but the volume needs to be kept to a minimum then add methanol (or acetone) dropwise to the suspension in 50 ml until it dissolves.