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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Organic Compounds in the Environment

Characterization of Cation– Interactions in Aqueous Solution Using Deuterium Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

^a Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840
^b Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
^c Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0357
^d Department of Environmental Toxicology and the Clemson Institute of Environmental Toxicology, Clemson University, Pendleton, SC 29670
^e Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 123 Huntington Street, New Haven, CT 06504

^* Corresponding author (Don.Zhu{at}po.state.ct.us).

Received for publication April 23, 2003. Chemical interactions of aromatic organic contaminants control their fate, transport, and toxicity in the environment. Recent molecular modeling studies have suggested that strong interactions can occur between the electrons of aromatic molecules and metal cations in aqueous solutions and/or on mineral surfaces, and that such interactions may be important in some environmental systems. However, spectroscopic evidence for these so-called cation– interactions has been extremely limited to date. In this paper, cation– interactions in aqueous salt solutions were characterized via ²H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin–lattice relaxation times (T₁) and calculations of molecular correlation times (_c) for a series of perdeuterated (d₆–benzene) benzene–cation complexes. The T₁ values for d₆–benzene decreased with increasing concentrations of LiCl, NaCl, KCl, RbCl, CsCl, and AgNO₃, with the largest effects observed in the AgNO₃ and CsCl solutions. Upon normalizing _c values by solution viscosity effects, an overall affinity trend of Ag⁺ >> Cs⁺ > K⁺ > Rb⁺ > Na⁺ > Li⁺ was derived for the d₆–benzene–cation complexes. The ability of Ag⁺ to complex d₆–benzene was significantly reduced upon addition of NH₃, which strongly coordinates Ag⁺ at high pH. Results with d₆–benzene, d₈–naphthalene, d₂–dichloromethane, and d₁₂–cyclohexane in 0.1 M methanolic salt solutions confirmed that spin–lattice relaxation rates are characterizing cation– interactions. The relatively strong cation– bonding observed between Ag⁺ and aromatic hydrocarbons probably results from covalent interactions between the aromatic electrons and the d orbitals of Ag⁺, in addition to the normal electrostatic interaction.

Abbreviations: NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance • PAH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon • T₁, spin–lattice relaxation time • _c, molecular correlation time

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