The Distribution of Picric Acid Between Water and Benzene and the Effect on the Equilibrium of Added Sodium and Hydrogen Chlorides

Citation

Hill, James Ewing (1922) The Distribution of Picric Acid Between Water and Benzene and the Effect on the Equilibrium of Added Sodium and Hydrogen Chlorides. Bachelor's thesis, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/DZW2-0R55. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-02242005-132447

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken in order to study the distribution of picric acid between the immiscible solvents water and benzene at different concentrations, and to determine the effect upon this equilibrium of the addition of successive amounts to sodium chloride and hydrogen chloride to the aqueous phase.

Data of this character is very similar to that relating to the effect of added electrolytes upon the solubility of slightly soluble salts and the theoretical conclusions which may be drawn are of a similar nature. The distribution results have, however, advantages over the solubility data: (1) in the former the activity may be varied over a considerable range, while in the latter it is fixed at an arbitrary value by the solubility of the salt; (2) the degree of ionization of the electrolyte used in the distribution experiments may be more accurately determined, for in the case of slightly soluble salts the range over which their concentration may be measured is very limited.

Picric acid was chosen for these experiments because its degree of ionization is that of a typical electrolyte and because it is one of the very few highly ionized substances which distribute themselves in a convenient ration between water and the more miscible solvent.

The distribution of picric acid between water and benzene in the absence of added electrolytes has been studied by Walden (1) Kuriloff (2), and by Rothmund and Druker (3). The work of the latter investigators only is of sufficient accuracy to warrant careful study. Recently Eherenfeld (4) obtained some preliminary data regarding the effect of added salts upon the distribution ratio. The results of these investigations will be compared with the data obtained in this, after that data has been presented.

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