In order to dissolve
haloalkane in water, energy is required to overcome the attractions between
the haloalkane molecules and break the hydrogen bonds between water
molecules Less energy is released when new attractions are set up between
the haloalkane and the water molecules as these are not as strong as the
original hydrogen bonds in water As a result, the solubility of haloalkanes
in water is low However, haloalkanes tend to dissolve in organic solvents
because the new intermolecular attractions between haloalkanes and
solvent molecules have much the same strength as the ones being broken
in the separate haloalkane and solvent molecules