Understanding the factors determining the solubilities of gases in liquids is important from both practical and theoretical standpoints. Gas solute polarizability can be expected to be a significant influence on solubility in many cases. The importance of gas solute polarizability in determining solubility in several solvents has been assessed using regression analysis. Two measures of gas solute polarizability have been employed: (1) a carefully compiled collection of experimental values from the literature; and (2) values calculated using an additive method proposed by Bosque and Sales. Whereas solute polarizability plays very little role in determining solubility in water, it plays a dominant role in other solvents, including benzene, hexane, 1-octanol, and ethanol. The results are interpreted in terms of the dominant intermolecular interactions prevailing in each solvent.

Factors influencing the solubilities of a large number of gases in water at 298.15 K and 101325 Pa partial pressure of gas have been examined. (For purposes of this article gases are considered to be compounds having normal boiling points below 298.15 K.) Since the solubility of these solutes in water range over 7 orders of magnitude and the gases examined include both gases that are chemically inert and gases that react with water, it was not possible to find a single correlation to adequately cover all of them. Accordingly, the gases were grouped into compatible classes, such as chemically reactive, inert, permanent, hydrocarbons, halogen-containing gases, etc. Reasonable correlations with gas solute properties were generally found within each class of compounds.