Quaternary ammonium compound solubility

[chrisk447]

Hello all,

I have a question about the solubility of a certain compound. The compound in question is a quaternary ammonium compound 60-80% concentration, 10-20% isopropanol, and 1-10% water.

Is isopropanol the best organic solvent for this compound or would a combination of isopropanol and water be a better solvent? There is also a possibility that another organic solvent is more suitable for the quaternary ammonium compound.

Thank you in advance.

[Borek]

Quaternary compounds are ionic, so water can be necessary to "neutralize" counteranion.

[chemisttree]

It depends on the counterion and the quat. A large greasy quat coupled with a non-coordinating counterion like tetraphenylboron (http://www.springerlink.com/content/mr504727076557h4/) or hexaphenylphosphate (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F7268256) might make the quat less soluble in water.