Comparison of polarity between ethyl acetate and n-hexane
The polarity of substances is related to their molecular structure and charge distribution, and plays a pivotal role in many chemical phenomena and applications. This article wants to analyze the differences in polarity between ethyl acetate (Ethyl Acetate) and n-hexane (Hexane) in detail.

n-hexane is an alkane compound. Its molecular structure is chain-like, and carbon and hydrogen atoms are connected by covalent bonds. Because the electronegativity of carbon and hydrogen is not much different, the electron cloud distribution is relatively uniform, and the overall charge distribution of the molecule is almost symmetrical. Therefore, the dipole moment of n-hexane molecule is extremely small, which can be regarded as a non-polar molecule. It has good solubility in non-polar solvents, such as benzene and carbon tetrachloride.

In contrast, ethyl acetate contains an ester group (-COO-) in its molecular structure. In this ester group, the oxygen atom of carbonyl carbon (C = O) has strong electronegativity, which has a strong ability to attract electron clouds, resulting in a decrease in the density of electron clouds around carbonyl carbon, showing a partial positive charge; and the oxygen atom in the ethoxy group (-OCH ² CH 🥰) connected to it also has a certain electronegativity, so that the molecular charge distribution is no longer symmetric. Therefore, ethyl acetate molecules have a certain dipole moment and exhibit polarity, which belongs to polar molecules.

From the above, it can be seen that the polarity of ethyl acetate is stronger than that of n-hexane due to the characteristics of its molecular structure. This difference in polarity has a significant impact on chemical operations such as extraction and chromatographic separation. During extraction, polar substances are easily soluble in polar solvents, and non-polar substances are easily soluble in non-polar solvents. The polarity difference between ethyl acetate and n-hexane can achieve effective separation of compounds of different polarities.

In summary, ethyl acetate is more polar than n-hexane in terms of polarity. This is a key point that cannot be ignored in chemical research and practice, and is of great significance to the analysis, purification and control of the reaction process of substances.