Dielectric constant microscopic

T. Simonson. Accurate calculation of the dielectric constant of water from simulations of a microscopic droplet in vacuum. Chem. Phys. Lett, 250 450-454, 1996. 

Solvent effects on chemical equilibria and reactions have been an important issue in physical organic chemistry. Several empirical relationships have been proposed to characterize systematically the various types of properties in protic and aprotic solvents. One of the simplest models is the continuum reaction field characterized by the dielectric constant, e, of the solvent, which is still widely used. Taft and coworkers [30] presented more sophisticated solvent parameters that can take solute-solvent hydrogen bonding and polarity into account. Although this parameter has been successfully applied to rationalize experimentally observed solvent effects, it seems still far from satisfactory to interpret solvent effects on the basis of microscopic infomation of the solute-solvent interaction and solvation free energy. 

Since the interface behaves like a capacitor, Helmholtz described it as two rigid charged planes of opposite sign [2]. For a more quantitative description Gouy and Chapman introduced a model for the electrolyte at a microscopic level [2]. In the Gouy-Chapman approach the interfacial properties are related to ionic distributions at the interface, the solvent is a dielectric medium of dielectric constant e filling the solution half-space up to the perfect charged plane—the wall. The ionic solution is considered as formed... 

In Eq. (6) Ecav represents the energy necessary to create a cavity in the solvent continuum. Eel and Eydw depict the electrostatic and van-der-Waals interactions between solute and the solvent after the solute is brought into the cavity, respectively. The van-der-Waals interactions divide themselves into dispersion and repulsion interactions (Ed sp, Erep). Specific interactions between solute and solvent such as H-bridges and association can only be considered by additional assumptions because the solvent is characterized as a structureless and polarizable medium by macroscopic constants such as dielectric constant, surface tension and volume extension coefficient. The use of macroscopic physical constants in microscopic processes in progress is an approximation. Additional approximations are inherent to the continuum models since the choice of shape and size of the cavity is arbitrary. Entropic effects are considered neither in the continuum models nor in the supermolecule approximation. Despite these numerous approximations, continuum models were developed which produce suitabel estimations of solvation energies and effects (see Refs. 10-30 in 68)). 

In addition to the described above methods, there are computational QM-MM (quantum mechanics-classic mechanics) methods in progress of development. They allow prediction and understanding of solvatochromism and fluorescence characteristics of dyes that are situated in various molecular structures changing electrical properties on nanoscale. Their electronic transitions and according microscopic structures are calculated using QM coupled to the point charges with Coulombic potentials. It is very important that in typical QM-MM simulations, no dielectric constant is involved Orientational dielectric effects come naturally from reorientation and translation of the elements of the system on the pathway of attaining the equilibrium. Dynamics of such complex systems as proteins embedded in natural environment may be revealed with femtosecond time resolution. In more detail, this topic is analyzed in this volume [76]. 

Relative to specimens examined under the microscope, the a or fast axis corresponds to the direction of the minimum refractive index, the minimum dielectric constant, and the maximum velocity. The y or slow axis corresponds to the maximum refractive index, the maximum dielectric constant, and the minimum velocity. Occasionally, a (3 axis is recognized with intermediate properties between a and y. When working with elongated bireffingent structures, birefringence usually is taken as positive when the y axis is parallel to the longitudinal axis. 

After these preliminary remarks, the term polarity appears to be used loosely to express the complex interplay of all types of solute-solvent interactions, i.e. nonspecific dielectric solute-solvent interactions and possible specific interactions such as hydrogen bonding. Therefore, polarity cannot be characterized by a single parameter, although the polarity of a solvent (or a microenvironment) is often associated with the static dielectric constant e (macroscopic quantity) or the dipole moment p of the solvent molecules (microscopic quantity). Such an oversimplification is unsatisfactory. 

We have investigated the ferrocene/ferrocenium ion exchange to determine the effects of different solvents on electron-transfer rates. There is probably only a very small work term and very little internal rearrangement in this system. Thus the rates should reflect mostly the solvent reorganization about the reactants, the outer-sphere effect. We measured the exchange rates in a number of different solvents and did not find the dependence on the macroscopic dielectric constants predicted by the simple model [Yang, E. S. Chan, M.-S. Wahl, A. C. J. Phys. Chem. 1980, 84, 3094]. Very little difference was found for different solvents, indicating either that the formalism is incorrect or that the microscopic values of the dielectric constants are not the same as the macroscopic ones. 

At this point, we can relate the atomic polarizabihty a (a microscopic magnitude) with the dielectric constant s (a macroscopic magnitnde) if we make certain assumptions about the local electric held. 

The effect of dielectric constant. D, on the formation constant of a loose ion pair complex Is probably not large in spite of the increase in the interlonlc ion pair distance. The microscopic rather than the macroscopic dielectric constant determines to a large extent the difference between the coulonb attraction energy of two Ions In a tight and loose ion pair. 

Macroscopic experiments allow determination of the capacitances, potentials, and binding constants by fitting titration data to a particular model of the surface complexation reaction [105,106,110-121] however, this approach does not allow direct microscopic determination of the inter-layer spacing or the dielectric constant in the inter-layer region. While discrimination between inner-sphere and outer-sphere sorption complexes may be presumed from macroscopic experiments [122,123], direct determination of the structure and nature of surface complexes and the structure of the diffuse layer is not possible by these methods alone [40,124]. Nor is it clear that ideas from the chemistry of isolated species in solution (e.g., outer-vs. inner-sphere complexes) are directly transferable to the surface layer or if additional short- to mid-range structural ordering is important. Instead, in situ (in the presence of bulk water) molecular-scale probes such as X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS) and X-ray standing wave (XSW) methods are needed to provide this information (see Section 3.4). To date, however, there have been very few molecular-scale experimental studies of the EDL at the metal oxide-aqueous solution interface (see, e.g., [125,126]). 

An alternative approach that was used in the past was to treat the photoelectrochemical cell as a single RC element and to interpret the frequency dispersion of the "capacitance" as indicative of a frequency dispersion of the dielectric constant. (5) In its simplest form the frequency dispersion obeys the Debye equation. (6) It can be shown that in this simple form the two approaches are formally equivalent (7) and the difference resides in the physical interpretation of modes of charge accumulation, their relaxation time, and the mechanism for dielectric relaxations. This ambiguity is not unique to liquid junction cells but extends to solid junctions where microscopic mechanisms for the dielectric relaxation such as the presence of deep traps were assumed. 

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