Question

Suppose you have a mixture of copper sulfate (CuSO4) and azulene (C10H8, you may wish to know the structure of azulene). Both copper sulfate and azulene are beautiful deep blue cystalline solids. If you transferred the mixture to a separatory funnel containing both an aqueous and and organic solvents (1M HCl and dichloromethane), into which layer would the copper sulfate partition, aqueous or organic?

A. Aqueous layer (1 M HCI)
B. Organic layer (dichloromethane)
C. Copper sulfate would partition nearly equally into both the aqueous and organic layers

Answer 1

Aqueous layer (1 M HCI)

Step-by-step explanation:

First of us I want to remind you of the cliché in chemistry that like dissolves like. In solvent extraction, a mixture is dissolved in a system consisting of two immiscible solvents. One layer is organic while the other layer is aqueous.

Polar substances partition in the aqueous layer while nonpolar substances partition in the organic layer.

Since Copper sulfate is ionic, we will find it in the aqueous layer according to the old chemistry cliche.