Dissolution of anthracene in aromatics: Solubility, correlation and thermodynamic analysis

Anthracene is characterized by its unique electronic and organic properties as the cornerstone for various applications. Particularly in the synthesis of anthraquinone derivatives, anthracene serves as the key raw materials in the alkylation and oxidation, acting as the hydrogen carrier for hydrogen peroxide production via AO process. However, inadequate knowledge about its dissolution behavior in solvents has been one of the main limitations for its purification and practical applications, commonly resulting in its unsatisfactory commercial products and thus leads to insufficient efficiency of chemical synthesis. In this study, the solubility behavior of anthracene in various solvents was specifically investigated by the synthetic method at temperatures ranging from 304.15 to 338.15 K under atmospheric pressure. To facilitate decent solvents screening, aromatics such as benzene and its derivatives were specifically exploited as the working solution components in this work. The experimental solubility values and their corresponding activity coefficient of anthracene were analyzed and correlated on the basis of modified Apelblat and λ-h models. Furthermore, thermodynamic analysis, including the changes of enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy, was subsequently conducted using the modified Van’t Hoff equation. As a result, the dissolution of anthracene is an endothermic and entropy-driven process in studied solvents, among which chlorobenzene seems to be the most actively interactive with anthracene and thus results to the best dissolving capacity for anthracene.