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Aromatic hydrocarbons are not necessarily insoluble in water. Benzene is slightly soluble in water: 1.79 g/L at 25 deg C. Compounds such as benzoic acid or phenol are much more soluble in water due to their stronger dipole moments.

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16y ago
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9y ago

Because hydrocarbons are non-polar molecules and water is a polar molecule. The rule of thumb is "like dissolves like." Therefore polar things are soluble in other polar things, and non-polar things are soluble in other non-polar things, but not the other way.

If you want to know an easier way you could always see that it's a covalent bond because they're nonmetals and all covalent compounds are insoluble.

Hydrocarbons are insoluble in water because water is polar, whereas hydrocarbons are non-polar. This difference makes it energetically unfavorable to dissolve hydrocarbons in water. The water molecules must arrange to accommodate the hydrocarbon molecules, lowering the entropy of the solution.

In short...

The majority of their bonds are nonpolar covalent carbon-to-hydrogen linkages.

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Q: Why are hydrocarbons insoluble in water?
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