>> Why is the Sudan IV in a mixture of ethanol and water instead of just plain water? <<
I think you answered that already - Sudan IV is insoluble in pure water, but has some solubility in ethanol, but...
>> ...What if it were in ... just ethanol? <<
Then the extraction would not work, because ethanol and hexane are miscible (so you would not get two layers).
>> I am thinking ethanol kind of bridges the two (Sudan IV and water). <<
That's right - ethanol is polar, but it has nonpolar character as well, and as a result it is able to dissolve a wide variety of organic compounds.
>> One question asked what the dominant intermolecular force present in Sudan IV was and I said London Dispersion since it interacts with nonpolar hexane <<
Right again - "like dissolves like" so that makes sense.
Steve
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