Andrzej Burakowski

Peculiarity of aqueous solutions of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol.

Aqueous solutions of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol appear to show a structural transition at alcohol mole fraction equal to x(TFE) = 0.05, which can be concluded from a discontinuity of the speed of sound. At the same concentration, a discontinuity was observed in the parameters of the long-living component of the positron annihilation spectrum. Moreover, the partial molar volumes of components show transition-like behavior in the range of low solute contents, which is significantly different from nonsubstituted ethanol. The peculiarities of the low concentration system correlate with minor infrared spectra changes assigned to a mode composed of the CH(2) bending and CF(3) stretching internal vibrations being sensitive to polarity of the hydration shell surrounding the solute. The majority of the spectral changes arise from a gradual shift of the equilibrium between trans ↔ gauche isomers when the composition of the solution is changing. A possible explanation for the peculiar behavior of the system is a thermodynamic equilibrium between hydrated monomers and dimers at that respective mole number.

Hydration of Amino Acids from Ultrasonic Measurements

In this paper the results of compressibility of aqueous solutions of amino acids in water and in aqueous HCl and NaOH solutions at 25 °C are presented. The effect of the charged protonated amino groups and deprotonated carboxylic groups on the hydration number was tested. The idea of additivity of the hydration number with the constituents of the solute molecule was successfully applied and discussed.

Compressibility of aqueous solutions of nonelectrolytes: An equilibrium model

In this paper the parabolic-shaped dependences of compressibility kappa(S) of a nonelectrolyte in water solvent on concentration are explained and described semiquantitatively in terms of hydrate formation equilibrium reaction. It was demonstrated that only two fitted parameters, the hydration number n(h) and the formation constant of the hydrate K, are sufficient to reproduce satisfactorily the experimental data, in particular the characteristic minimums of kappa(S) versus composition observed at low contents of solutes.

Dimerization Constants from Acoustic Measurements: Solutions of Benzene, Cyclohexylamine and Aniline in Cyclohexane

A model assuming that the formation of dimers determines the acoustic properties of liquid mixtures, in the inert solvent cyclohexane, was applied to describe the observed dependences of sound speed on composition. The dimerization constants were estimated. The results allow one to propose that the solutes tend to form associates larger than dimers in concentrated solutions, while in dilute systems solute–solvent interactions play an important role.