Why do certain compounds dissolve in oil? Why do some types of compounds dissolve in oil, yet not water? Sorry if this is an obvious answer. I tried rewording this question every way I could, but search engines came up with nothing- they all skirted around this exact question.
Why do certain compounds, such as fatty acid or Vitamin A, dissolve in oil?
Polar substances can dissolve in water because water molecules are polar and literally pick apart the [polar] molecules in the solute by attracting to them. However, oil is nonpolar and has no such ability.
How, then, does it make certain compounds dissolve? Is there some other bond it can form with certain compounds?
On a second question, I read something about London dispersion and Van der Waals forces being the main force of attraction between oil solvents and solutes that can dissolve in oil. If this is the case, that means the electrons in orbit around the solute's molecules shift around and form temporary dipoles with each other.
But what makes it so that some solutes can only dissolve in oil-- and not water [molecules], which are polar, and could also interact with these temporary dipoles?
edit: A comment said that this not energetically preferable. So I think the second question can be considered answered.
Thanks!
I propose a logical approach, to explain the rule &quot;the like dissolve like&quot;. Why don't we admit that all liquids should be able to mix, exactly like gases may be mixed in all proportion ? This is the case for non polar molecules, like oils. And if two liquids don't mix, this is due to the existence of attracting forces between molecules A (hydrogen bonds for exemple), and that mixing them with another stuff B may destroy too many of these bonds. If the mixing operation A + B creates about as many new bonds as those broken during the mixing, the liquids A and B may be mixed. This is the case in the mixture water - ethanol. If the mixing operation A+B does not create enough new bonds between molecules A and B, like water and oil, Nature refuses to break the bonds between A molecules without any counterpart, and prevents the A molecules (water) to be separated from one another in order to accept B molecules, and A and B are not miscible.