Why will diethly ether be the best to remove propanol from...

[csx]

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..sodium acetate?

I am unsure of the rationale. I know D. Ether is a fairly unreactive substance and evaporates quick but i dont see why itd wash away the impurities (propanol) but not what we want (S. Acetate).

 

[Marleywh]

What was the question?

 

[justadream]

@csx

Perhaps the rationale is that propanol is more soluble in ether than sodium acetate is in ether?

I'm not sure if that is true but it would make sense since acetate is charged (making it more polar) whereas ether and propanol are both uncharged.

 

[csx]

@csx

Perhaps the rationale is that propanol is more soluble in ether than sodium acetate is in ether?

I'm not sure if that is true but it would make sense since acetate is charged (making it more polar) whereas ether and propanol are both uncharged.

one of the answer choices was propanol. I said that because I figured like dissolves like but it was wrong. What makes Propanol more soluable in ether?

 

[justadream]

@csx

I'm not 100% sure if this is correct but I would think propanol is more soluble since it is not charged (ether is also uncharged).

What question is this? It would be much more helpful to post the full question and/or source.

 

[mehc012]

one of the answer choices was propanol. I said that because I figured like dissolves like but it was wrong. What makes Propanol more soluable in ether?

Adding more propanol would not help remove propanol.
Sodium acetate is a salt. You are trying to remove a liquid from a salt without dissolving the salt, so you want to avoid anything blatantly polar, but it should a) dissolve propanol and b) be volatile.

 

[popopopop]

Can you post the question?

 

[mehc012]

Can you post the question?

Yes, that would be very helpful.
Sounds like a recrystallization question to me, in which case you're looking for the cold rinse solvent.