Chemistry: Determining Polar or Nonpolar Properties of Certain Chemicals

[blackout85]

I need to determine whether these certain chemicals are polar or not:
Beta- sitosterol
Methyl cinnamate
Lapachol
Ethyl p-hydroxy cinnamate
Betulic acid
3,4,5- trihydroxy-7-methoxy flavone
Veratric acid
p-anixic acid


Many of them are difficult, If there is a website that could help in determing whether these compounds are polar or not I would appreciate it.

 

[Decan]

In order to figure out if things are polar or not, I like to look at diagrams...google your compounds individually and I'm sure you'll find a chemical structure.

For example, here's one for methyl cinnamate: http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/data/rw1417571.html

Now that you know what it looks like, identify the major functional groups and try to figure out the properties of each. For methyl cinnamate, you have and ester...is an ester polar or non-polar. After you figure out functional groups, another property you can use to classify polarity is solubility. As a rule of thumb, like dissolves like. Hope that helps!

 

[Blueshift5]

I would recommend using various resources such as chemical databases, scientific literature, and molecular modeling software to determine the polar or nonpolar properties of these chemicals. These resources can provide information on the chemical structure, molecular weight, and functional groups present in each compound, which can help in predicting their polarity.

For example, beta-sitosterol and betulic acid both contain long hydrocarbon chains and functional groups such as hydroxyl groups, which can make them more likely to be polar. On the other hand, methyl cinnamate and ethyl p-hydroxy cinnamate have aromatic rings and ester functional groups, which can make them less polar.

It may also be helpful to compare the properties of these chemicals to known polar or nonpolar compounds, as well as to consider their solubility in different solvents. Additionally, consulting with a chemist or conducting experiments such as measuring the compound's dipole moment can also aid in determining their polarity.

Overall, determining the polar or nonpolar properties of these chemicals may require a combination of resources and techniques, but with careful analysis and consideration, it is possible to make an accurate determination.