An extended x‐ray absorption fine structure study by employing molecular dynamics simulations: Bromide ion in methanolic solution

Coupled X-ray Absorption/UV-vis Monitoring of a Prototypical Oscillating Reaction

Oscillating reactions are among the most intriguing phenomena in chemistry, but many questions on their mechanisms still remain unanswered, due to their intrinsic complexity and to the low sensitivity of the most common spectroscopic techniques toward the reaction brominated species. In this work, we investigate the cerium ion-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillating reaction by means of time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), in combination with UV-vis spectroscopy and unsupervised machine learning, multivariate curve resolution, and kinetic analyses. Altogether, we provide new insights into the collective oscillatory behavior of the key brominated species involved in the classical BZ reaction and measure previously unreported oscillations in their concentrations through Br K-edge XAS, while simultaneously tracking the oscillatory Ce4+-to-Ce3+ transformation by coupling XAS with UV-vis spectroscopy. Our work evidences the potential of the XAS technique to investigate the mechanisms of oscillatory chemical systems whose species are often not detectable with conventional experimental methods.

Direct Observation of Contact Ion-Pair Formation in La3+ Methanol Solution

An approach combining molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has been used to carry out a comparative study about the solvation properties of dilute La(NO₃)₃ solutions in water and methanol, with the aim of elucidating the still elusive coordination of the La³⁺ ion in the latter medium. The comparison between these two systems enlightened a different behavior of the nitrate counterions in the two environments: while in water the La(NO₃)₃ salt is fully dissociated and the La³⁺ ion is coordinated by water molecules only, the nitrate anions are able to enter the metal first solvation shell to form inner-sphere complexes in methanol solution. The speciation of the formed complexes showed that the 10-fold coordination is preferential in methanol solution, where the nitrate anions coordinate the La³⁺ cations in a monodentate fashion and the methanol molecules complete the solvation shell to form an overall bicapped square antiprism geometry. This is at variance with the aqueous solution where a more balanced situation is observed between the 9- and 10-fold coordination. An experimental confirmation of the MD results was obtained by La K-edge XAS measurements carried out on 0.1 M La(NO₃)₃ solutions in the two solvents, showing the distinct presence of the nitrate counterions in the La³⁺ ion first solvation sphere of the methanol solution. The analysis of the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) part of the absorption spectrum collected on the methanol solution was carried out starting from the MD results and confirmed the structural arrangement observed by the simulations.

The formation of contact ion pairs between the La³⁺ ions and the nitrate anions has been demonstrated in diluted methanol solution using a combined approach using Molecular Dynamics simulations and X-ray absorption spectroscpy.

Hydration of bromide at reverse micelle interfaces studied by X-ray absorption fine structure

Nanoconfined water exhibits various interesting properties, which are not only of fundamental importance but also of practical use. Because reverse micelles (RMs) provide versatile ways to prepare nanoconfined water, the understanding of their physicochemical properties is essential for developing efficient applications. Although the water properties in the RMs could be affected by its interaction with the RM interface, the details have not been well understood. This study focuses on the local structures of Br^- in hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB) RMs formed in chloroform and 10% hexanol/heptane. The dependence in Br^- hydration on the molar ratio of water to HTAB (w) is investigated using X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). These systems cover a wide range of w values (0-30) and allow us to study the impact of this parameter on the local structure of Br^- at the RM interface, which comprises water, surfactant headgroups, and organic solvent components. The presence of multiple scattering paths complicates the XAFS spectra and makes it difficult to analyze them using standard fitting methods. The linear combination of the spectra corresponding to the individual scattering paths captures the molecular processes that occur at the RM interface upon increasing w. The maximum hydration number of Br^- is found to be 4.5 at w > 15, suggesting that although most of the ions remain at the interface as partly hydrated ions, some of them dissociate as completely hydrated ones.

Solvation structure of lanthanide(iii) bistriflimide salts in acetonitrile solution: a molecular dynamics simulation and EXAFS investigation

Lanthanide³⁺ ions in acetonitrile solutions of bistriflimide salts form 10-fold coordination complexes composed of both solvent molecules and counterions

On the coupling of solvent characteristics to the electronic structure of solute molecules

We present the results of a theoretical investigation focusing on the solvent structure surrounding the -1, 0 and +1 charged species of F, Cl, Br and I halogen atoms and F2, Cl2, Br2 and I2 di-halogen molecules in a methanol solvent and its influence on the electronic structure of the solute molecules. Our results show a large stabilizing effect arising from the solute-solvent interactions. Well-formed first solvation shells are observed for all species, the structure of which is strongly influenced by the charge of the solute species. Detailed analysis reveals that coordination number, CN, solvent orientation, θ, and solute-solvent distance, d, are important structural characteristics which are coupled to changes in the electronic structure of the solute. We propose that the fundamental chemistry of any solute species is generally regulated by these solvent degrees of freedom.

(79)Br NMR spectroscopy as a practical tool for kinetic analysis

(79)Br NMR spectroscopy has been used to monitor a series of reactions in which the bromide ion is produced, including the Menschutkin reaction of pyridine with a range of substituted benzyl bromides and a Heck coupling process. In cases where the process could also be monitored using (1)H NMR spectroscopy, the kinetic analyses using heteronuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were shown to be completely consistent. Both the utility of the process in following reactions which may be difficult to analyse using other techniques and the practical limitations associated with solvent choice are discussed.

Molecular Simulation Analysis and X-ray Absorption Measurement of Ca2+, K+and Cl-Ions in Solution

This paper presents recent advances in the use of molecular simulations and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, which enable us to understand solvated ions in solution. We report and discuss the EXAFS spectra and related properties governing solvation processes of different ions in water and methanol. Molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories are coupled to electron scattering simulations to generate the MD-EXAFS spectra, which are found to be in very good agreement with the corresponding experimental measurements. From these simulated spectra, the ion-oxygen distances for the first hydration shell are in agreement with experiment within 0.05-0.1 A. The ionic species studied range from monovalent to divalent, positive and negative: K+, Ca2+, and Cl-. This work demonstrates that the combination of MD-EXAFS and the corresponding experimental measurement provides a powerful tool in the analysis of the solvation structure of aqueous ionic solutions. We also investigate the value of electronic structure analysis of small aqueous clusters as a benchmark to the empirical potentials. In a novel computational approach, we determine the Debye-Waller factors for Ca2+, K+, and Cl- in water by combining the harmonic analysis of data obtained from electronic structure calculations on finite ion-water clusters, providing excellent agreement with the experimental values, and discuss how they compare with results from a harmonic classical statistical mechanical analysis of an empirical potential.

Detection of Second Hydration Shells in Ionic Solutions by XANES: Computed Spectra for Ni2+ in Water Based on Molecular Dynamics

A general procedure to compute X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra within multiple-scattering theory starting from molecular dynamics (MD) structural data has been developed and applied to the study of a Ni(2+) aqueous solution. This method allows one to perform a quantitative analysis of the XANES spectra of disordered systems using a proper description of the thermal and structural fluctuations. The XANES spectrum of Ni(2+) in aqueous solution has been calculated using the structural information obtained from the MD simulations without carrying out any minimization in the structural parameter space. A very good reproduction of the experimental data was obtained including the second-shell water molecules in the calculation, thus showing that the second hydration shell provides a detectable contribution to the XANES spectra of ionic solutions. The analysis including the first-shell cluster only permitted us to quantitatively determine the effect of disorder on the amplitude of the XANES spectra for molecular complexes. These results simultaneously confirm the reliability of the procedure and the structural results obtained from MD simulations. The combination of MD and XANES is found to be very helpful to get important new insights into the quantitative estimation of structural properties of disordered systems.

Structural and electronic evolution of the As(OH)3 molecule in high temperature aqueous solutions: An x-ray absorption investigation

The geometrical and electronic structure of the arsenious acid molecule As(OH)(3) in aqueous solutions has been investigated by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) within extended x-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS) and x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), using realistic first-principle calculations in the latter case. This investigation was performed on aqueous solutions of arsenious acid from ambient to supercritical conditions (P = 250 and 600 bars, T <or= 500 degrees C) using a new optical cell. The analysis of the XAS spectra is consistent with (1) a constant As-O distance, (2) an opening of the O-As-O angles within the C(3V) pyramidal structure in the range 30-200 degrees C. This structural evolution comes along with a small decrease of the partial charges of the atoms in the As(OH)(3) molecule. The explanation invoked for both structural and electronic modifications observed is the weakening of the interactions, through hydrogen bonds, between the As(OH)(3) complex and water molecules. This is a fingerprint of the similar weakening of hydrogen bonding interactions in the solvent itself.

Hydrogen and higher shell contributions in Zn2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ aqueous solutions: an X-ray absorption fine structure and molecular dynamics study

A detailed investigation of the hydration structure of Zn2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ in water solutions has been carried out combining X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. The first quantitative analysis of EXAFS from hydrogen atoms in 3d transition metal ions in aqueous solutions has been carried out and the ion-hydrogen interactions have been found to provide a detectable contribution to the EXAFS spectra. An accurate determination of the structural parameters associated with the first hydration shell has been performed and compared with previous experimental results. No evidence of significant contributions from the second hydration shell to the EXAFS signal has been found for these solutions, while the inclusion of the hydrogen signal has been found to be important in performing a quantitative analysis of the experimental data. The high-frequency contribution present in the EXAFS spectra has been found to be due to multiple scattering (MS) effects inside the ion-oxygen first coordination shell. MD has been used to generate three-body distribution functions from which a reliable analysis of the MS contributions to the EXAFS spectra of these systems has been carried out.