Of the three compounds butanoic acid, butane, and butanone, the one that is most soluble in water is butanoic acid. This is because its carboxyl functional group can form the strongest intermolecular forces with polar water.
Among the given options, butanoic acid represents carboxylic acid, butane represents alkane and butanone is ketone. The alkane does not have polar group, which makes butane least soluble in water. In butanone, the functional group ketone can form intermolecular bond with water. This makes it soluble.
Butanoic acid has carboxylic acid as functional group. Thus, it contains two groups for interaction with water molecule. The two functional groups in butanoic acid are C=O (carbonyl group) and -OH (hydroxyl group) and water has hydrogen ions and hydroxyl groups for interaction.
The ionic bonds between the groups are strongest in nature as they involve sharing of electrons, increasing the force of attraction.
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