Isotope fractionation in phase-transfer processes under thermodynamic and kinetic control – Implications for diffusive fractionation in aqueous solution

Abstract

Diffusive isotope fractionation of organic compounds in aqueous solution was investigated by means of liquid-liquid and liquid-gas partitioning experiments under kinetic control. The two-film model was used to describe phase-transfer kinetics. It assumes the diffusion of solutes across a stagnant water boundary layer as the rate-controlling step. For all investigated solutes (benzene-D0 and -D6, toluene-D0, -D5, and -D8, cyclohexane-D0 and -D12), there was no significant observable fractionation effect between nondeuterated and perdeuterated isotopologues, resulting in a ratio of diffusion coefficients Dlight: Dheavy=1.00±0.01. In addition, isotope fractionation due to equilibrium partitioning of solutes between water and n-octane or gas phase was measured. The deuterated compounds are more hydrophilic than their light isotopologues in all cases, giving rise to fractionation coefficients αHpart=Koctane/water,H: Koctane/water,D=1.085 to 1.15. Thus, thermodynamic fractionation effects are much larger than diffusion fractionation effects. Methodical and environmental implications of these findings are discussed.