Question

Review the structures below for a fatty acid. Recalling what you know about "like dissolves like" and the lab procedure, identify which of the following solvents would also be effective in extracting the fats from potato chips.

*НО- НЬc — CH, Η Η Н : N — Н -ЭН HzC CH3

Answer 1

Fatty acids are long hydrocarbon chain molecules with a carboxylic acid group at the end of the chain.

Thus, fatty acid molecules with a very long chain hydrocarbon chain are mostly non-polar in nature. Since like dissolves like, fatty acids are most easily soluble in non polar solvents, and very sparingly soluble in polar solvents like water.

Compound 2 is highly polar.molecules, due to the presence of lone pairs which are easily donatable. Also, Compound 3 is a gaseous molecule, which is also highly polar when dissolved in water or any solvent(due to lone pairs). Thus, these two compounds are poor solvents for fatty acids.

Now both compound 1 and compound 4 are nonpolar with long hydrocarbon chains in them. Thus these molecules would serve as the most suitable to dissolve fatty acid molecules. Out of these two compound 4 is more non-polar and thus a better solvent.