Free energies of supercritical solvation from molecular dynamics simulation and integral equation studies

Abstract

Abstract We present here molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and integral equation (IE) studies on free energies of solvation of a non-polar solute in a dilute supercritical solvent to estimate the contribution of inhomogeneities in solvent density to the free energy of solvation. The solvation of a Xe-like solute in an Ne-like solvent as well as that of naphthalene in CO 2 have been investigated. At state points in the compressible region in the neighborhood of the solvent critical point, we have utilized the IE estimates of free energies to model the ideal situation where local density inhomogeneities would be absent. The difference between the free energies in the presence (as derived from MD simulation) and in the absence (from IE) of local density inhomogeneities was studied as a function of density along an isotherm close to the critical point. Although for low density supercritical solvents, a marked difference is observed, a study of the density dependence of this difference across the critical density does not directly reveal any signature of local density enhancement on the thermodynamics of solvation.