Why alkanes have low solubility than other organic compounds?

Alkanes have low solubility in water and other polar solvents because they are nonpolar molecules. This means that they do not have any charged or polar groups that can interact with the polar molecules in the solvent. As a result, alkanes are not able to form strong enough interactions with the solvent molecules to dissolve easily.

In contrast, other organic compounds such as alcohols, ketones, and carboxylic acids have polar functional groups that can form hydrogen bonds or dipole-dipole interactions with the solvent molecules. This allows them to dissolve more readily in polar solvents.

Additionally, the size of the alkane molecule can also affect its solubility. Larger alkanes have more surface area and weaker intermolecular forces, making them less soluble in solvents compared to smaller alkanes.

Alkanes have low solubility in water and other polar solvents because they are nonpolar molecules. Nonpolar molecules do not interact well with polar solvents, such as water, which is a polar molecule. The low solubility of alkanes in water is also due to the fact that alkanes are hydrophobic, meaning they repel water.

In contrast, other organic compounds, such as alcohols, ketones, and esters, are more soluble in water because they contain polar functional groups. Polar functional groups can interact with water molecules through hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding is a type of intermolecular force that occurs when a hydrogen atom is bonded to a highly electronegative atom, such as oxygen or nitrogen. The hydrogen atom in a hydrogen bond has a partial positive charge, and the electronegative atom has a partial negative charge. These partial charges can interact with the partial charges on water molecules, forming hydrogen bonds.

The presence of polar functional groups in organic compounds makes them more soluble in water. The more polar functional groups an organic compound contains, the more soluble it will be in water.