Why doesn't ethanol dissolve in sodium bicarbonate?

Today I experimented with different solvents and solutes and was a bit surprised by one result. When I added ethanol to dilute sodium bicarbonate and tapped the test tube against my palm to mix it, I saw the mixture swirling, then it turned cloudy. 


I don't understand why this happened -- as far as my understanding goes, ethanol is both a weak acid and a weak base, and it dissolved with NaOH and HCl with no trouble. Does this have anything to with the fact that ethanol and sodium bicarbonate are both amphiprotic? Or is there a different explanation?


Thanks in advance. 




Sodium bicarbonate is a ionic compound with quite limited solubility in water. Ethanol is worse solvent to dissolve ionic compounds than water is, as it is less polar. Therefore salts have generally worse solubility in ethanol than in water.


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Firstly ethanol being an organic compound, tends to dissolve less in polar compounds. But it can form numerous hydrogen bonds in water and hence is soluble in most aqueous solutions.
NaOH is a often considered a moderate base in organic chemistry. If you dissolve ethanol in aq.NaOH , it tends to oxidize the alcohol into its aldehyde which further undergoes aldol reactions, giving it a yellowish brown color when left for many days. 


That is not the case with NaHCO3 as its an even weaker base, so it rarely participates in any reaction with ethanol. Also there are lesser possible hydrogen bonds per molecule in it. So its already less soluble in polar solvents like H2O, not to talk about in organic solvents like ethanol. 


Hope this helps.


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