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SolventSelector

Methodology

Last reviewed July 2026. This page documents where the numbers come from and how the miscibility chart is built.

Sources

  • UV cutoff — the Burdick & Jackson solvent table (via the University of Toronto TRACES lab): the wavelength where absorbance reaches 1 AU in a 1 cm cell.
  • Snyder polarity index (P′) and selectivity groups — Snyder's published classification (compiled via the Stenutz solvent tables).
  • Boiling point, viscosity, refractive index, density — standard physical constants from the NIST Chemistry WebBook and PubChem.
  • Residual-solvent class — USP General Chapter <467>, which adopts ICH Q3C.
  • Miscibility — standard solvent-miscibility relationships (MilliporeSigma technical table and the peer-reviewed literature).

Every solvent page links its sources. Physical-property values are public facts; we compile them from primary references and cite them rather than reproducing any single proprietary chart.

How the miscibility chart works

Each solvent is assigned a polarity class (water, polar-protic, polar-aprotic, low-polarity, non-polar). Miscibility is then determined by a documented rule — organic solvents are generally mutually miscible; water separates from low-polarity and non-polar solvents — plus explicit overrides for well-known exceptions, notably:

  • Methanol and acetonitrile are only partially miscible with alkanes (hexane, heptane, pentane, cyclohexane) at room temperature.
  • DMSO is immiscible with alkanes and diethyl ether.
  • Water is partially miscible with diethyl ether, MTBE, and ethyl acetate.

This gives reliable guidance for method development, but it is not a substitute for a bench test: real miscibility depends on temperature, water content, and the exact proportions. Confirm critical mixtures at your working conditions.

Verification & updates

Values are cross-checked against more than one source where possible, and the dataset carries a "last reviewed" date that we bump on re-verification. This is a v1 dataset undergoing an ongoing verification pass; if you find an error, email [email protected] and we'll correct it.