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I know that non polar (Hydrophobic) molecules are usually lipophilic. Is there a general explanation for this phenomenon, or does the explanation differ depending on the molecule itself?

zizaaooo
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  • Please use appropriate tags and correct spelling (in the title for instance). Also, textbooks and many online resources would provide a sufficient answer, for instance the Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrophobe – Buck Thorn Mar 18 '22 at 05:40

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To be dissolved into water, a substance has to break hydrogen bonds existing between water molecules. This requires energy. So the dissolution into water is only possible if enough new hydrogen bonds are created between the solute and water. If no or not enough new bonds can be created in solution, Mother Nature is reluctant to accept these newcomers, and the arriving substance is not soluble in water. This is the case for non polar substances, which are also called hydrophobic. Nevertheless, these substances can be dissolved in non polar solvents, which have no hydrogen bonds, because the van der Wals forces existing between non polar molecules are much weaker than hydrogen bonds in polar solvents. Van der Wals forces requires few energy to be broken. In principle, any new non polar molecule can be dissolved in any non polar solvent, provided their dimensions are not too big.

Maurice
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