Organics, solubility thermodynamic concepts

The Phaser experiments reveal a surprising thermodynamic principle of polymer-solvent-carbon dioxide mixtures. Whereas most polymers have very low solubility (often below 1%) in supercritical carbon dioxide, supercritical carbon dioxide can have appreciable solubility in many types of polymers. Carbon dioxide solubilities ranging from 20 to 60% have been measured for several pure liquid polymer systems having no organic solvent. In these systems, the thermodynamic concepts of solvent and solute are reversed the carbon dioxide is the solute and the polymer is the solvent. 

Now that we have a basic understanding of solvents and solutes, let s examine the thermodynamics of solubility in more detail. The concepts involved lead directly to the thermodynamics of reactions. The second section of this book delves into the kinetics and mechanisms of organic transformations, which are highly dependent upon the nature of the solvent and the reactants. Hence, many of the topics discussed above will be revisited in these discussions. However, because the thermodynamics of solutions affects reactions and molecular recognition (the topic of the next chapter), it makes sense to discuss the thermodynamics of reactions here also. Therefore, in this section we explore the thermodynamic driving force for solubility and chemical reactions. 

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