Effect of Temperature on the Dielectric Relaxation in Solvent Mixtures at Microwave Frequencies

A new method to calculate broadband dielectric spectra of solvents from molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated with polarizable force fields

Simulating the dielectric spectra of solvents requires the nuanced definition of inter- and intra-molecular forces. Non-polarizable force fields, while thoroughly benchmarked for dielectric applications, do not capture all the spectral features of solvents, such as water. Conversely, polarizable force fields have been largely untested in the context of dielectric spectroscopy but include charge and dipole fluctuations that contribute to intermolecular interactions. We benchmark non-polarizable force fields and the polarizable force fields AMOEBA03 and HIPPO for liquid water and find that the polarizable force fields can capture all the experimentally observed spectral features with varying degrees of accuracy. However, the non-polarizable force fields miss at least one peak. To diagnose this deficiency, we decompose the liquid water spectra from polarizable force fields at multiple temperatures into static and induced dipole contributions and find that the peak originates from induced dipole contributions. Broadening our inquiry to other solvents parameterized with the AMOEBA09 force field, we demonstrate good agreement between the experimental and simulated dielectric spectra of methanol and formamide. To produce these spectra, we develop a new computational approach to calculate the dielectric spectrum via the fluctuation dissipation theorem. This method minimizes the error in both the low and high frequency portions of the spectrum, improving the overall accuracy of the simulated spectrum and broadening the computed frequency range.

Dielectric, Thermodynamic, and Computational Studies of Hydrogen Bonded Binary Mixtures of N-Methylaniline with Propan-1-ol and Isopropyl Alcohol

The molecular interactions between the polar systems N-methylaniline with alcohols, propan-1-ol, and isopropyl alcohol for various mole fractions at different temperatures are studied by determining the dielectric permittivity using LF impedance analyzer, microwave bench, and Abbe's refractometer in radio, microwave, and optic frequency regions, respectively. Dipole moment, excess dipole moment, excess Helmholtz free energy, excess permittivity, excess inverse relaxation time, and excess thermodynamical values are calculated using experimental data. Hamiltonian quantum mechanical calculations are performed using PC Spartan and ArgusLab modeling softwares for both pure and equimolar binary systems of N-methyl aniline with alcohols.

Complex permittivities of cyclomaltooligosaccharides (cyclodextrins) over microwave frequencies to 26 GHz

Complex permittivities (epsilon*) for microwave radiation between 0.5 and 26 GHz have been determined for alpha-, beta-, and gamma-cyclodextrins in the solid state at room temperature. For the real component of epsilon*, maxima occur near 0.6 GHz, and the relation beta > alpha > gamma is evident across the full-frequency spectrum. Dielectric loss is significant only between 5 and 12 GHz for beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins with maxima near 7.5 GHz.