Consider a set of compounds called carboxylic acids which have the general formula CH3(CH2)nCO2H. As the value of n in the formula increases from zero to 10, what happens to the solubility of these compounds in water? What happens to the compounds solubility in carbon tetrachloride as n increases in the same manner? Justify your answer for each solvent.
1 answer
Remember that "like dissolves like." As n increases, the molar mass increases, and the solubility in water decreases while the solubility in carbon tetrachloride increases.