[jtc]

Hello fellow people,

I hope you all are well! I would like to know if enzacamene (or named as eusolex 6300 or 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor) can be dissolved in (relatively) non-polar compounds, like o-xylene and ethyl acetate. My brain has been all foggy for many days and I cant proceed even one step with my experiments. Please help me if you would be so kind.

Thank you in advance,
Gregory

[MOTOBALL]

We know that camphor is readily soluble in benzene, and so will also be in toluene, xylene etc.
4-MBC should follow same rules, as the structure is very similar with just an extra phenyl ring.
I would use toluene.
By the way, ethyl acetate ir relatively polar!

Regards,
Motoball

[rolnor]

These types of things can be tested i just one minute, use a few mg in a vial etc.

[jtc]

These types of things can be tested i just one minute, use a few mg in a vial etc.

Thank you for replying! The problem is that I am designing the experiment on paper first, so I have no solvents and it is also difficult to obtain them just to test my theories. That's why I asked here!

[jtc]

We know that camphor is readily soluble in benzene, and so will also be in toluene, xylene etc.
4-MBC should follow same rules, as the structure is very similar with just an extra phenyl ring.
I would use toluene.
By the way, ethyl acetate ir relatively polar!

Regards,
Motoball

Thank you for replying!

[rolnor]

We can suggest a good solvent if you tell us what reaction you want to do.

[jtc]

We can suggest a good solvent if you tell us what reaction you want to do.

Its not about reactions. I just want to dissolve many different stuff in a single solvent and want to be sure that they all are solluble. Dont mind that.

I just got a different baffling question:

Why is camphor soluble in e.g. Ethanol, which is polar, less than water though, in DMSO, that is much more polar than water, and in other relatively polar solvents and not in water? Do some specific bonds play a major part at it?

[rjb]

Why is camphor soluble in e.g. Ethanol, which is polar, less than water though, in DMSO, that is much more polar than water, and in other relatively polar solvents and not in water? Do some specific bonds play a major part at it?

You might like to look upon the polarity of DMSO here http://www.chem.rochester.edu/notvoodoo/pages/reagents.php?page=solvent_polarity... From these data, you can probably see that DMSO is a fair bit less polar than both Water and Ethanol, which might make camphor's solubility in it a bit less mysterious!

These types of things can be tested i just one minute, use a few mg in a vial etc.

This is great advice. Sometimes it's best just to get in the lab (if only for a few minutes) to have a bit of a play. Whilst you might not have any suitable solvents yourself, I bet somebody else does - ask around. That's one of the reasons building relationships with technical staff and colleagues is so important... I have lost count of the number of times I have asked to borrow a few mls of a particular solvent and I am yet to be refused. Failing that improvise... Not ideal obviously, but Ethyl acetate is a common constituent of Nail Varnish remover and in my country Xylene is commonly sold as paint thinner... Buy some and give it a go and once you know your product is soluble, spend some money on some quality solvents. Planning is great, but it can be paralysing... You might like to find out a little more about a chemist and Nobel prize winner called Archer Martin. He apparently had a bit of a habit of doing a lot thinking and not a lot of doing which was problematic in his academic role, where output in the form of academic papers was expected.