Apparent Molar Volume, Isentropic Compressibility, Refractive Index, and Viscosity of DL-Alanine in Aqueous NaCl Solutions

Abstract

New experimental data at 25°C for the density, velocity of sound, refractive index, and viscosity of aqueous solutions of DL-alanine and NaCl are reported. The apparent molar volume and isentropic compressibility of DL-alanine in aqueous electrolyte solutions have been calculated from the measured properties. The results show that DL-alanine exhibits a positive volume transfer to solutions of a higher NaCl concentration and a negative apparent isentropic compressibility for DL-alanine in the presence of NaCl. These effects indicate that the apparent volume of DL-alanine is larger in solutions with higher electrolyte concentration and the water molecules surrounding the DL-alanine molecules are less compressible than the water molecules in the bulk solution. The results also show an increase in the viscosity of the solution with an increase in both DL-alanine and NaCl concentrations. These effects are attributed to the two charged groups of DL-alanine and the interactions between the charged groups and the hydrocarbon backbone of DL-alanine with the ions. A model, consisting of a short-range interaction term represented by a virial expansion and a Debye-Huckel term that considers long-range interactions, has been developed to correlate the measured experimental data.