Aqueous solubility of a simple (single-carbon) organic molecule as a function of its size & dipole moment.

The aqueous solubility of a single-carbon organic molecule as a function of its size & dipole moment was investigated. The molecular dipole moment was chosen to represent the polar character of a poly-atomic molecule. It is hypothesized here that at a given pH, temperature, and pressure, the solubility of a single-carbon organic molecule in water will be a function of its polar character; namely, dipole moment and of its molecular size. Different forms of the solubility function were tested; it was found that the solubility model, given by Eq. 1, which is based on the polar character and the molecular volume, adequately described the aqueous solubility of single-carbon organic moieties. The aqueous solubility of single-carbon organic solutes exhibits maximum at the condition of high polar character (large dipole moment) and low molecular volume. The general trend of the solubility of single-carbon organic solutes, based on the proposed model (Eq. 1) could be explained in terms of the trade-off between the driving force (degree of polar character of the solute) for solubilization versus the resistance to be solubilized as a result of the entropic effects which increase with increasing molecular volume of the organic moiety.