Solvents and Polarity

Common solvents arranged from the least polar to the most polar

Solvent Relative Polarity
hexane 0.009
p-xylene 0.074
toluene 0.099
benzene 0.111
ether 0.117
methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE) 0.124
diethylamine 0.145
dioxane 0.164
chlorobenzene 0.188
tetrahydrofuran (THF) 0.207
ODCB (orthodichlorobenzene) 0.225
ethyl acetate 0.228
dimethoxyethane (DME; glyme) 0.231
pyridine 0.302
methylene chloride 0.309
HMPT 0.315
1,2-dichloroethane 0.327
DMPU 0.352
acetone 0.355
dimethylformamide (DMF) 0.386
t-butyl alcohol 0.389
sulfolane 0.41
dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) 0.444
acetonitrile 0.46
nitromethane 0.481
2-propanol 0.546
benzyl alcohol 0.608
acetic acid 0.648
ethanol 0.654
methanol 0.762
ethylene glycol 0.79
trifluoroethanol 0.898
hexafluoroisopropanol 0.969
water 1

Source: “Solvents and Solvent Effects in Organic Chemistry,” Christian Reichardt https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9783527632220