Why most of the alkanes are Hydrophobic in nature?

1 Answer
anor277
Jan 28, 2017

Because the #C-H# (and more so the #C-C#) bonds are relatively non-polar...

Explanation:

Water solubility, or if you like #"hydrophilicity"#, depends on the polarity of the bonds in the solute. Water can dissolve strongly polar materials which feature #OH# bonds. Water can also dissolve some ionic solutes, where polarity has graduated to complete charge separation.

On the other hand, #C-H# and #C-C# bonds are very non-polar, i.e. there is no charge separation that might be solvated by a polar solvent (such as water, or short chain alcohols). And thus the alkanes tend to have little solubility in aqueous media.

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