Question: Rank the following compounds in order of increasing water solubility.

Solubility is the power of a solid substance, liquid substance, or gaseous substance to get solubilized in a particular solvent. Numerous factors like temperature and pressure can impact a particular substance’s solubility.

The solubility of a specific compound can be understood with the help of the polar functional groups present in it or by its capacity to undergo hydrogen bonding with water.

Among the given compounds, cyclopentanol is the most polar and forms a strong hydrogen bond with water. Cyclopentanone can also form a hydrogen bond with water, but it is not as strong as cyclopentanol.

Cyclopentylbromide is the least soluble among all compounds as it cannot form a hydrogen bond with water.

Hence, the compounds can be ranked in the order of increasing water solubility as follows:

Ranking the compounds based on water solubility