Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

Separation of Aldehydes and Reactive Ketones from Mixtures Using a Bisulfite Extraction Protocol
Published on: April 2, 2018
Origin of strong synergism in weakly perturbed binary solvent system: a case study of primary alcohols and
Shradhey Gupta1, Shahnawaz R. Rather, Mainak Kundu
1Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, UP, PIN-208 016, India.
Abstract:
A strong synergistic solvation was observed for the mixtures of hydrogen bond donating and accepting solvent pairs. The nature of the interactions between two solvent pairs was investigated with different dye molecules viz. coumarin 480, coumarin 153, 4-aminophthalimide, and p-nitroaniline. Coumarin 480 in differenet alcohols-CHCl(3) (alcohols: MeOH, EtOH, BuOH) binary mixture shows a strong synergism, which is explained in the backdrop of solvent-solvent interactions. Fluorescence quenching of C480 by 1,2-phenylenediamine in the binary solvent mixture exhibited the maximum deviation in quenching constant corresponding to ~0.45 mol fraction of MeOH in MeOH-CHCl(3) binary mixture and hence suggested the maximum extent of hydrogen-bonding interactions prevailing at this proportion of mixture. The solvation behavior of MeOH-CHCl(3) mixture shows strong probe dependence with no synergism observed in p-nitroaniline, which is ascribed to its higher ground state dipole moment (8.8 D) relative to C480 (6.3 D). Interestingly, the strong synergistic signature observed through spectrophotometric measurement of C480 in alcohol-CHCl(3) binary mixture is absent when studied by fluorescence measurement. The higher excited state dipole moment of coumarin 480 (13.1 D) is considered to be the driving force for the absence of synergism in the excited state. In such strongly perturbed systems (due to high dipole moment values) the dominant phenomenon is preferential solvation. Analysis of proton NMR of MeOH-CHCl(3) binary solvent mixture indicates the existence of MeOH-CHCl(3) clusters in the stoichiometric ratio of 1:2.15. Refractive index measurement also infers the existence of hydrogen bonded network structure between MeOH and CHCl(3). A modified Bosch solvent exchange model has been used to determine the feasibility of synergistic behavior and polarity parameter of the mixed solvent structure of MeOH-CHCl(3) binary solvent mixture.
Related Concept Videos
Solvating Effects
Physical Properties of Alcohols and Phenols
Alcohols possess a higher boiling point than aliphatic hydrocarbons of similar...
Conversion of Alcohols to Alkyl Halides
Acidity and Basicity of Alcohols and Phenols
Preparation of Alcohols via Substitution Reactions
Alcohols can be synthesized from alkyl halides via nucleophilic substitution reactions. The highly polar carbon-halogen bond in the substrate makes halide a good leaving group. The hydroxide ion or water can act as a nucleophile to take the place of halide and form an alcohol. The substitution reactions occur via two different reaction pathways, SN1 or SN2, depending on the nature of carbon attached to the halide.
Primary alcohols are synthesized from primary alkyl halides, and the...
Preparation of Alcohols via Addition Reactions
The acid-catalyzed addition of water to the double bond of alkenes is a large-scale industrial method used to synthesize low-molecular-weight alcohols. An acidic atmosphere is required to allow the hydrogen in the water molecule to act as an electrophile and attack the double bond in an alkene. The addition of a proton to the double bond creates a carbocation intermediate. The proton preferentially bonds to the less substituted end of the double bond to create a more stable carbocation...

