Solvent effects on the reactivity of solvated electrons with ammonium and nitrate ions in 1-butanol–water solvents

Abstract

Values of the rate constants, k2 (106 m3 mol−1 s−1), of solvated electrons,[Formula: see text] with several related salts, in pure water and pure 1-butanol solvents at 298 K are, respectively, as follows: LiNO3, 9.2, 0.19; NH4NO3, 10, 8.3; NH4ClO4, 1.5 × 10−3, 12 in 20 mol% water; LiClO4, 1.0 × 10−4, < 1.0 × 10−4. The value of [Formula: see text] in water solvent is 48 times larger than that in 1-butanol solvent, whereas [Formula: see text] in water is 10−4 times smaller than the value in 1-butanol. This enormous reversal of solvent effects on [Formula: see text] reaction rates is the first observed for ionic reactants. The solvent participates chemically in the [Formula: see text] reaction, and the overall rate constant increases with increasing viscosity and dielectric relaxation time. This unusual behavior is attributed to a greatly increased probability of reaction of an encounter pair with increasing duration of the encounter. Effective reaction radii κRr for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were estimated with the aid of measured electrical conductances of the salt solutions in all the solvents. Values of κRr are (2–7) × 10−10 m, except for NH4,s+ in 100 and 99 mol% water, which are 2.6 and 2.7 × 10−14 m, respectively. The effective radii of the ions for mutual diffusion increase with increasing butanol content of the solvent, from ~50 pm in water to ~150 pm in 1-butanol, due to the increasing average size of the molecules that solvate the ions.