Note: Molecular architecture dependent hydrogen-bonded motifs, entropy change, and dielectric permittivity of alcohols

A comparative study of ibuprofen and ketoprofen glass-forming liquids by molecular dynamics simulations

In this paper, structural and dynamical properties of ibuprofen and ketoprofen glass-forming liquids have been investigated by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Molecular mobility of both materials is analyzed with respect to the different inter-molecular linear/cyclic hydrogen bonding associations. For ibuprofen, the dominant organization is found to be composed of small hydrogen bonding aggregates corresponding to cyclic dimers through the carboxyl group. For ketoprofen, the propensity of cyclic dimers is significantly reduced by the formation of hydrogen bonds with the ketone oxygen of the molecule altering the hydrogen bond (HB) associating structures that can be formed and thus molecular dynamics. The issue of the presence/absence of the peculiar low frequency Debye-type process in dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) data in these materials is addressed. Results obtained from simulations confirm that the Debye process originates from the internal cis-trans conversion of the -COOH carboxyl group. It is shown that the specific intermolecular HB structures associated to a given profen control the main dynamical features of this conversion, in particular its separation from the α-process, which make it detectable or not from DRS. For ibuprofen, the possible role of the -CCCO torsion motion, more "local" than the -COOH motion since it is less influenced by the intermolecular HBs, is suggested in the microscopic origin of the quite intense secondary γ-relaxation process detected from DRS.

Thermodynamic Analysis of the Two-Liquid Model for Anomalies of Water, HDL-LDL Fluctuations, and Liquid-Liquid Transition

After reviewing the protocol-dependent properties of HDA, which thermally anneals to LDA, and the data gap over an unusually large T-range between HDA, LDA, and water, we investigate whether or not, despite HDA's ill-defined state and distinction from a glass, the HDL-LDL fluctuations view of the two-liquid model can explain water's anomalous behavior. An analysis of the density, ρ, compressibility, β, heat capacity, Cp, and thermal conductivity, κ, of water over a monotonic (continuous) path bridging this data gap shows the following: (i) Such a path between ρwater at 320 K and ρHDA yields an untenable thermal expansion coefficient of water. (ii) There is neither a continuous path between βwater at 353 K and βHDA, nor between Cp,water at 363 K and Cp,HDA. (iii) The same value of ρwater, of βwater, or of Cp,water at two temperatures separated by a maxima or a minima is incompatible with the HDL-LDL fluctuations view. (iv) κLDA at ∼140 K is about twice that of κ water at 253 K. (v) κHDA at 120 K is incompatible with κwater at T > 320 K. Thus, there is an internal inconsistency between the thermodynamics of HDA seen as a glass and that of water seen as an HDL-LDL mixture, which is incompatible with both the HDL-LDL fluctuations view and the liquid-liquid transition.

Liquid 1-propanol studied by neutron scattering, near-infrared, and dielectric spectroscopy

Liquid monohydroxy alcohols exhibit unusual dynamics related to their hydrogen bonding induced structures. The connection between structure and dynamics is studied for liquid 1-propanol using quasi-elastic neutron scattering, combining time-of-flight and neutron spin-echo techniques, with a focus on the dynamics at length scales corresponding to the main peak and the pre-peak of the structure factor. At the main peak, the structural relaxation times are probed. These correspond well to mechanical relaxation times calculated from literature data. At the pre-peak, corresponding to length scales related to H-bonded structures, the relaxation times are almost an order of magnitude longer. According to previous work [C. Gainaru, R. Meier, S. Schildmann, C. Lederle, W. Hiller, E. Rössler, and R. Böhmer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 258303 (2010)] this time scale difference is connected to the average size of H-bonded clusters. The relation between the relaxation times from neutron scattering and those determined from dielectric spectroscopy is discussed on the basis of broad-band permittivity data of 1-propanol. Moreover, in 1-propanol the dielectric relaxation strength as well as the near-infrared absorbance reveal anomalous behavior below ambient temperature. A corresponding feature could not be found in the polyalcohols propylene glycol and glycerol.