[filbert127]

Could someone please explain why Halothane is considered non-polar? Or at least, what makes it considered relatively non-polar?

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

[Dan]

Read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_polarity

If you are still stuck we can help you further.

[filbert127]

Thank you for the link, I appreciate it.

With that in mind, it would appear to me that halothane is a polar moecule- it exhibits a dipole moment as the electronegativies of the atoms present vary, creating electron asymmetry.. However, the following exercise in my text (involving solubility) claims Halothane is non-polar....

"One way of screening potential anesthetics involves testing whether the compound dissolves in olive oil because all common anesthetics, including Nitrogen Dioxide (N20), Cyclopropane (C3H6), and Halothane (CF3CHBrCl), are soluble in olive oil. What property do the compounds have in common?"

Nitrogen Dioxide and Cyclopropane are clearly non-polar molecules, hence, for Halothane to be miscible in Olive Oil as well, it must follow the trend set by the other two compounds. By the rule of "like dissolves like" (I am in Gen Chem II) Halothane must also be non-polar and only exhibit dispersion forces.

Thanks for reading,
Filbert

[Dan]

Ah ha, yes this issue has come up before:

http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=51088.0

Molecules with a dipole moment of low magnitude are often referred to as "non-polar", where we should strictly say low polarity.