Question

if use ethanol as solvent to extraction，the hydrophobic compound easy to extract or hydrophilic compound easy to extract？compare with methanol

Answer 1

Ethanol and methanol are very similar in their ability to solubilize hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules. The key difference is ethanol has an extra methylene group (-CH2-) which makes it more hydrophobic in nature than methanol.

Ethanol is better at extracting hydrophobic compounds compared to methanol. The added benefit of using ethanol is that it is less toxic than methanol.

Methanol is highly polar (more so than ethanol) so it can extract wide range of compounds from polar to non-polar compounds very effectively and also its boiling point is lower than that of ethanol, hence preferred for certain applications despite its toxicity.