chloroform

[joonkimdds]

isn't chloroform polar?

There was one top score OC question asking which one was polar or miscible with water something like that and I got rid of 3 nonpolar choices.

When I had chloroform and propanol for choices, I picked propanol and that was the right answer but I think chloroform could've been the answer too.

I believe chloroform is HCCl3.
Does anyone remember this from topscore?

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[nze82]

isn't chloroform polar?

There was one top score OC question asking which one was polar or miscible with water something like that and I got rid of 3 nonpolar choices.

When I had chloroform and propanol for choices, I picked propanol and that was the right answer but I think chloroform could've been the answer too.

I believe chloroform is HCCl3.
Does anyone remember this from topscore?

I think the NET dipole moment from two of the C-Cl bonds is canceled out with the 3rd one, rending the molecule non-polar.

 

[joonkimdds]

hm... I think you are right.

BTW, u got a cool drawing tool there~ what is the program called?

 

[nze82]

hm... I think you are right.

BTW, u got a cool drawing tool there~ what is the program called?

Not my drawing...lol
But I know there's a software that does this.

 

[sixkiller]

It helps to actually draw out the dipole moments....you'll see that they don't cancel out.

Chloroform has a net dipole moment of 1.15; definitely not non-polar.

Diethyl ether also has a dipole moment of 1.15.

Just because it has a net dipole moment doesn't necessarily mean that it will be miscible with water.

As you may recall from your ochem lab, diethyl ether isn't miscible in water (remember your separatory funnel?). Chloroform or ether is used in seperation techniques.....

 

[joonkimdds]

thanks sixkiller.

 

[nze82]

It helps to actually draw out the dipole moments....you'll see that they don't cancel out.

Chloroform has a net dipole moment of 1.15; definitely not non-polar.

Diethyl ether also has a dipole moment of 1.15.

Just because it has a net dipole moment doesn't necessarily mean that it will be miscible with water.

As you may recall from your ochem lab, diethyl ether isn't miscible in water (remember your separatory funnel?). Chloroform or ether is used in seperation techniques.....

Chloroform is definitely not polar.
Solvents with dielectric constants less than 15 are considered non-polar. The dielectric constant for CHCl3 = 4.8. Therefore, it is non-polar by definition.

 

[joonkimdds]

but then HCCl3 is tetra hedral shape and the 4 atoms attached to C are not the same so I think it is polar.

CCl4 would cancel each other and stay non polar.
CH4 would cancel each other and stay non polar.
But CH2CH4 is polar because not all 4 are the same.
so I am thinking that HCCl3 is also polar. hm....

 

[nze82]

but then HCCl3 is tetra hedral shape and the 4 atoms attached to C are not the same so I think it is polar.

CCl4 would cancel each other and stay non polar.
CH4 would cancel each other and stay non polar.
But CH2CH4 is polar because not all 4 are the same.
so I am thinking that HCCl3 is also polar. hm....

I googled it too. And pretty much every website says it's non-polar!

 

[sixkiller]

Chloroform is definitely not polar.
Solvents with dielectric constants less than 15 are considered non-polar. The dielectric constant for CHCl3 = 4.8. Therefore, it is non-polar by definition.

Yes, as a SOLVENT...it is by definition non-polar. You are using dielectric constant so, you're referring to it as a solvent.

I was referring to the individual molecule, which is why I omitted dielectric constant and used dipole moment.

The OP seemed to think that the moments canceled out.....if that were the case, the net dipole moment would be zero. I wanted to point out that the molecule is not apolar.

This is sometimes confusing because polar/apolar has double usage (solvent or individual molecule) in organic chemistry.