Why does ammonia, NH3, dissolve in water?

Ammonia has the ability to form hydrogen bonds. When the hydrogen bonds between water molecules are broken, they can be replaced by equivalent bonds between water and ammonia molecules. Some of the ammonia also reacts with the water to produce ammonium ions and hydroxide ions. The reversible arrows show that the reaction doesn't go to completion. At any one time only about 1% of the ammonia has actually reacted to form ammonium ions. The solubility of ammonia is mainly due to the hydrogen bonding and not the reaction. Other common substances which are freely soluble in water because they can hydrogen bond with water molecules include ethanol (alcohol) and sucrose (sugar). Solubility in organic solvents Molecular substances are often soluble in organic solvents - which are themselves molecular. Both the solute (the substance which is dissolving) and the solvent are likely to have molecules attracted to each other by van der Waals forces. Although these attractions will be disrupted ...  more