Question

consider 15 ml of an aqueous solution containing 2.0 g of an organic solute. if the distribution coefficient for the solute between ether and water is 20, calculate the percent of the compound that can be recovered with a single extraction with 18.1 ml of ether.

Answer 1

The percent of the compound that can be recovered with a single extraction with 18.1 ml of ether is 75%.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the percent of the compound that can be recovered with a single extraction with 18.1 ml of ether, we need to consider the distribution coefficient of the solute between ether and water. The distribution coefficient is 20, which means that for every 20 mL of solute that can be extracted by ether, 1 mL will remain in the aqueous solution.

In this case, we have 15 mL of aqueous solution containing 2.0 g of solute. Since the solute is organic, we can assume it will fully dissolve in water. Using the distribution coefficient, we can calculate the amount of solute that will be extracted by ether and the amount that will remain in the aqueous solution.

The amount of solute that will be extracted by ether is (15 mL)/(20 mL) x (2.0 g) = 1.5 g. Therefore, the percent of the compound that can be recovered with a single extraction with 18.1 mL of ether is (1.5 g)/(2.0 g) x 100% = 75%.