Interpretation:
The relationship between the carbon chain length and water solubility of
Explanation of Solution
The smaller aldehydes and ketones are freely water-soluble but the solubility falls with the chain length. For example, methanal, ethanal and propanone are miscible with water. The reason for the solubility is that the aldehydes and ketones cannot form hydrogen bond with themselves but they can form hydrogen bond with water molecules.
As the carbon chain length increases, the hydrocarbon tails of the molecules start to get in the way. They break the relative strong hydrogen bonds between water molecules without replacing them instead, they force themselves between the molecules of water. This makes the process energetically less profitable, and so solubility decreases.
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