Reaction solvent effect (1): "The dielectric constant"

Figure 1 shows the temperature/pressure dependency of the dielectric constant of water. The dielectric constant of supercritical water is in the range of from 2 to 30, which is similar to the range from a nonpolar solvent such as hexane (with a dielectric constant of about 1.8) to a polar solvent such as a methanol (with a dielectric constant of 32.6).
In other words, with supercritical water it becomes possible to dissolve organic substances that do not dissolve in water under atmospheric conditions.

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Characteristics and uses of supercritical water

Reaction solvent effect (2): "The ion product"

Applications in hydrolysis reaction