Question #1dabb

1 Answer
Jun 23, 2017

Nicotine is a polar molecule.

Explanation:

Pure nicotine is a colourless liquid with the formula #"C"_10"H"_14"N"_2#.

Its structural formula is

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Each nitrogen atom in nicotine has a lone pair of electrons.

These contribute to the observed dipole moment of 2.3 D, so nicotine is a polar molecule.

The lone pairs also enable the #"N"# atoms to form hydrogen bonds with polar protic solvents.

Thus, nicotine is soluble in water, ethanol, and methanol.

Despite this polarity, the molecule also contains ten aromatic and aliphatic carbon atoms, so nicotine has a high nonpolar character.

Nicotine is also quite soluble in nonpolar solvents like chloroform, ether, petroleum ether, and kerosene.