This is why ethanol was used as a solvent during this lab, because due to its structure it has both polar and non-polar regions. Ethanol has a polar alcohol end capable of dipole-dipole interactions and hydrogen bonding, but also has a relatively non-polar CH3CH2 end with primarily London dispersion forces (LDFs). The general rule for solubility is “like dissolves like,” which means that polar solutes will dissolve in polar solvents and nonpolar solutes will dissolve in nonpolar solvents. Once extracted, by performing a simple separation known as thin layer chromatography (TLC), the extract can be tested to see if it contains eugenol. TLC uses ethyl acetate (a polar solvent) to dissolve the molecules (also polar) present in the extract. The polar solvent also contains hexane (a non-polar solvent) which allows polar molecules to precipitate as small dots on the TLC plate. As shown in Figure 4, the solvent will move along the TLC plate until it reaches the stained samples: clove extract (Our), nutmeg extract (Oth), and 10 mg/mL eugenol standard (s). Several spots on the TLC plate show the interaction between the molecules of the extract and the silica on the surface of the TLC plate. If the molecules in the extract have more nonpolar characteristics, they will be pulled higher