Home > Community > Why is methanol used in a recrystallization reaction rather than water?
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Pablo Coronel

Why is methanol used in a recrystallization reaction rather than water?

Apple Answers  Follow

Rather?! It all depends on solubility. Besides, recrystallisation is a purifying proces. Idealiter impurities should remain in solution.

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Carolina Kishwaukee  Follow

In methanol, there are three alpha hydrogen atoms which show hyperconjugation with the lone pairs of oxygen. As these lone pairs get involved in hyperconjugation, these are less available to form hydrogen bonds with the hydrogen atoms of adjacent molecules. But ethanol has only 2 alpha hydrogen therefore it has less extent of hyperconjugation and therefore it has more availability of lone pairs of electrons on oxygen atom to form hydrogen bonds with adjacent molecules and hence intermolecular hydrogen bonding in latter is more.

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Allan Nicholas  Follow

Place the water containing the shit on a low heat,and as the water evaporates,it will leave a residule film,that will crystalize right before your very own eyes.Just don't leave it on the heat after it does,because it will liquify,vaporize and burn off in a white cloud if you do.

Be good,and big hug .. Patricia?

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David Goodman  Follow

You don’t simple distill methanol-water. You have to fractionally distill instead. Keep an eye on the vapour temperature while you are condensing methanol. When the temperature starts to rise you have extracted all the methanol you can.

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Charles Wardrop  Follow

Conductivity additives can raise the the conductivity of polar and nonpolar solvents. Such additives are specialty organometallic complexes that act at the parts per million level, raising the conductivity by a few orders of magnitude. This works well in anhydrous methanol

Such additives are expensive. for large scale operations transition metal salts of fatty acids are used. Ferrocene works a little bit.

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Bengt Nyman  Follow

The steps in the recrystallization of a compound are:

  1. Find a suitable solvent for the recrystallization;
  2. Dissolve the impure solid in a minimum volume of hot solvent;
  3. Remove any insoluble impurities by filtration;
  4. Slowly cool the hot solution to crystallize the desired compound from the solution;
  5. Filter the solution to isolate the purified solid compound.

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Dennis Leppin  Follow

Nope! The -ol ending only applies to some organic compounds. Water is inorganic and contains no carbon, so it wouldn’t get an -ol.

This is also why NaOH is called sodium hydroxide and not sodiumol.

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Ask Jadzie  Follow

Water.

Methanol has a carbon atom replacing one of the hydrogens, and carbons usually make a company less polar (more nonpolar). And, methanol does have an oxygen.

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