# Most powerful organic solvent **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135 "2012-09-19T03:13:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![burkdaddio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@burkdaddio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burkdaddio)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/1 "2012-09-19T03:13:14Z")
What is the most powerful organic solvent? In college I had to remove some dried wax from some lab equipment. The prof recommended hexane and to do it under the hood. It dissolved the wax alright, a lot faster than acetone. Using the dissolving of wax as the standard, what is the most powerful? Also, wax aside, what is considered the most powerful? ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/2 "2012-09-19T03:24:24Z")
Looks like you are looking for non-polar solvents. Here is a list : > **[Polar Protic? Polar Aprotic? Nonpolar? All About Solvents](http://www.masterorganicchemistry.com/2012/04/27/polar-protic-polar-aprotic-nonpolar-all-about-solvents/)** > > What's a polar protic solvent vs a polar aprotic solvent vs a non-polar solvent? Polar protic solvents can hydrogen-bond; polar aprotic solvents cannot. Liquid CO2 has a lower dielectric constant than even pentane. ---
**Author:** ![burkdaddio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@burkdaddio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burkdaddio)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/3 "2012-09-19T03:37:50Z")
Hmm. Looks like pentane wins. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/4 "2012-09-19T04:51:40Z")
Wax is rather an arbitrary standard, though, since things that dissolve wax well will be terrible against many other solutes. You’re not going to dissolve much salt with that hexane, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/5 "2012-09-19T05:57:43Z")
Indeed, the “power” of an organic solvent depends very much on what you want to dissolve; it’s no surprise that dissolving high-molecular-weight alkanes is a job for another alkane, but cleaning silicones from laboratory equipment is a job magnificently handled by toluene (for safety’s sake, though, it’s better to use acetone and elbow grease). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/6 "2012-09-19T07:45:20Z")
I know water is touted in Chem 101 as “The Universal Solvent”, because, IIRC, it dissolves such a wide \*variety \*of things. (Something about having a polar and a non-polar side, was it?) So that could be another definition of “powerful”…if we’re going for breadth of application as opposed to speed, does water win, or is there something even more “universal” than water? ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/7 "2012-09-19T08:33:48Z")
Water is the universal solvent from a sort of ‘life on earth’ perspective, but it’s pretty poor for dissolving things in general across the range - far too polar. In the lab dimethylsulfoxide, (CH3)2SO has the reputation as the most effective solvent in terms of variety of things that will go into it, IME. It’s polar, but has enough hydrophobic character to give it superb versatility as a solvent. The drawback is that it’s high boiling, clingy, and thus laborious to remove if you want to get your material back out (as chemists often do). Some other common solvents that can handle material across the range are toluene (as mentioned), dichloromethane and acetonitrile. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/8 "2012-09-19T11:01:07Z")
Well I think you are being a bit fussy asking for an organic solvent. Why not go directly to the the real bad ass - hydrofluoric acid? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/9 "2012-09-19T12:29:19Z")
Hydrofluoric acid is a terrible solvent. It’s a weak acid. It certainly won’t dissolve wax. The problem with this question is that what defines a good solvent depends on what’s being dissolved. For greasy things, I’d go with dichloromethane. For ionic things I’d go with water, particularly with a low pH. For stuff that’s greasy but polar with some ions, I’d go with DMSO. For the best solvent that’s most likely to dissolve any unknown compound, I’d go with some version of emulsified soapy water. Water is considered the universal solvent because it truly is good at dissolving most things in the universe. It doesn’t dissolve non-polar organics well at all, but most things in the universe aren’t non-polar organics. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/10 "2012-09-19T13:01:41Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Hydrofluoric acid is a terrible solvent. It’s a weak acid. Oh yeah? Well I’ve got a glass beaker full of it right here and… Get me the calcium gluconate gel, stat! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/11 "2012-09-19T13:40:33Z")
lots of different things to dissolve and lots of different solvents; with a wide variety of properties. even in waxes there is variation. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/12 "2012-09-19T13:47:54Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Oh yeah? Well I’ve got a glass beaker full of it right here and… > > Get me the calcium gluconate gel, stat! That doesn’t really contradict what I said. Fluoride reacts with glass whether it’s hydrofluoric acid or tetrabutylammonium flouride. It certainly doesn’t dissolve things due to its acidity. I could store it in plastic quite comfortably. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/13 "2012-09-19T13:51:23Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > That doesn’t really contradict what I said. Fluoride reacts with glass whether it’s hydrofluoric acid or tetrabutylammonium flouride. It certainly doesn’t dissolve things due to its acidity. I could store it in plastic quite comfortably. before plastics it was stored in wax coated glass bottles. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/14 "2012-09-19T17:16:30Z")
Hydrofluoric acid isn’t even that good at [dissolving human flesh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HF_burned_hands.jpg) (see description below); HF “burns” often aren’t noticed until it is too late to effectively treat them and the damage is due to fluoride, not the acidity (unlike other acids, which you will notice right away, although they still don’t “melt” flesh like in the movies; actually, I’ve gotten acidic toilet bowl cleaner, 20% HCl (a stronger acid than HF), on my hands and it didn’t even burn in the time before washing it off). ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/15 "2012-09-19T18:11:07Z")
HCL(aq) is a very forgiving acid in that regard. other mineral acids act much quicker. depends on what the acid touches would describe the type of damage, you might not call it melty but it can cause tissue to fall apart. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/16 "2012-09-19T18:47:54Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > HCL(aq) is a very forgiving acid in that regard. other mineral acids act much quicker. depends on what the acid touches would describe the type of damage, you might not call it melty but it can cause tissue to fall apart. Just a little rhyme I made up whilst at school, for some reason we had to know how to handle fuming sulphuric acid… Without ever actually having to handle it. Oleum, oleum, you oughtn’t pour water into oleum. Oleum, oleum, the last thing you’ll see is the oleum. Oleum, oleum, into water you must pour the oleum. Oleum, oleum, it’ll burn, it’ll blacken, that oleum. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/17 "2012-09-20T01:01:32Z")
I’m not even sure that water is more universal than, say, ethanol or methanol. Certainly, there are some things that will dissolve in alcohol but not in water. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/18 "2012-09-20T03:12:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m not even sure that water is more universal than, say, ethanol or methanol. Certainly, there are some things that will dissolve in alcohol but not in water. Like sorority girls. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/19 "2012-09-20T03:17:05Z")
Spit. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135/20 "2012-09-20T04:55:53Z")
fire. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-organic-solvent/635135.md?page=2)