The dielectric continuum solvent model adapted for treating preferential solvation effects

Effects of Preferential Solvation Revealed by Time-Resolved Magnetic Field Effects

External magnetic fields can impact recombination yields of photoinduced electron transfer reactions by affecting the spin dynamics in transient, spin-correlated radical pair intermediates. For exciplex-forming donor–acceptor systems, this magnetic field effect (MFE) can be investigated sensitively by studying the delayed recombination fluorescence. Here, we investigate the effect of preferential solvation in microheterogeneous solvent mixtures on the radical pair dynamics of the system 9,10-dimethylanthracene (fluorophore)/N,N-dimethylaniline (quencher) by means of time-resolved magnetic field effect (TR-MFE) measurements, wherein the exciplex emission is recorded in the absence and the presence of an external magnetic field using time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). In microheterogeneous environments, the MFE of the exciplex emission occurs on a faster time scale than in iso-dielectric homogeneous solvents. In addition, the local polarity reported by the exciplex is enhanced compared to homogeneous solvent mixtures of the same macroscopic permittivity. Detailed analyses of the TR-MFE reveal that the quenching reaction directly yielding the radical ion pair is favored in microheterogeneous environments. This is in stark contrast to homogeneous media, for which the MFE predominantly involves direct formation of the exciplex, its subsequent dissociation to the magneto-sensitive radical pair, and re-encounters. These observations provide evidence for polar microdomains and enhanced caging, which are shown to have a significant impact on the reaction dynamics in microheterogeneous binary solvents.

Origin of Asymmetric Solvation Effects for Ions in Water and Organic Solvents Investigated Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations: The Swain Acity-Basity Scale Revisited

The asymmetric solvation of ions can be defined as the tendency of a solvent to preferentially solvate anions over cations or cations over anions, at identical ionic charge magnitudes and effective sizes. Taking water as a reference, these effects are quantified experimentally for many solvents by the relative acity (A) and basity (B) parameters of the Swain scale. The goal of the present study is to investigate the asymmetric solvation of ions using molecular dynamics simulations, and to connect the results to this empirical scale. To this purpose, the charging free energies of alkali and halide ions, and of their hypothetical oppositely charged counterparts, are calculated in a variety of solvents. In a first set of calculations, artificial solvent models are considered that present either a charge or a shape asymmetry at the molecular level. The solvation asymmetry, probed by the difference in charging free energy between the two oppositely charged ions, is found to encompass a term quadratic in the ion charge, related to the different solvation structures around the anion and cation, and a term linear in the ion charge, related to the solvation structure around the uncharged ion-sized cavity. For these simple solvent models, the two terms are systematically counteracting each other, and it is argued that only the quadratic term should be retained when comparing the results of simulations involving physical solvents to experimental data. In a second set of calculations, 16 physical solvents are considered. The theoretical estimates for the acity A are found to correlate very well with the Swain parameters, whereas the correlation for B is very poor. Based on this observation, the Swain scale is reformulated into a new scale involving an asymmetry parameter Σ, positive for acitic solvents and negative for basitic ones, and a polarity parameter Π. This revised scale has the same predictive power as the original scale, but it characterizes asymmetry in an absolute sense, the atomistic simulations playing the role of an extra-thermodynamic assumption, and is optimally compatible with the simulation results. Considering the 55 solvents in the Swain set, it is observed that a moderate basity (Σ between -0.9 and -0.3, related to electronic polarization) represents the baseline for most solvents, while a highly variable acity (Σ between 0.0 and 3.0, related to hydrogen-bond donor capacity modulated by inductive effects) represents a landmark of protic solvents.

Solvation dynamics of a radical ion pair in micro-heterogeneous binary solvents: a semi-quantitative study utilizing MARY line-broadening experiments

This work aims at elucidating the mechanism of solvation of a radical ion pair (RIP) in a micro-heterogeneous binary solvent mixture using magnetically affected reaction yield (MARY) spectroscopy. For the exciplex-forming 9,10-dimethylanthracene/N,N-dimethylaniline system a comparative, composition-dependent MARY line-broadening study is undertaken in a heterogeneous (toluene/dimethylsulfoxide) and a quasi-homogenous (propyl acetate/butyronitrile) solvent mixture. The half-saturation field extrapolated to zero-quencher concentration, B(1/2), and the self-exchange rate constants are analyzed in the light of solvent dynamical properties of the mixtures and a dielectric continuum solvation model. The dependence of B(1/2) on the solvent composition is explained by cluster formation giving rise to shortened RIP lifetimes. The results are in qualitative agreement with the continuum solvation model suggesting that it could serve as a theoretical basis for quantitative modeling.