Effect of Electrolytes on Chemical Equilibria

This calotype of a leaf was taken by the inventor of the process, William Henry Fox Talbot, in 1844. In its earliest form, the photosensitive paper was created by coaitfhg thP paper with a sodium chloride solution, allowing the paper to dry, and then applyy ihg a second coat of silver nitrate, which produced a film of silver chloride, the lealf was then placed on the paper and exposed to light. The silver chloride in the paper was produced by the chemical equilibrium Ag+ + Cr AgCI[s), which is driven by the activities of reactants and products. 

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Chemists use a term called activity, a, to account for the effects of electrolytes on chemical equilibria. The activity, or effective concentration, of species X depends on the ionic strength of the medium and is defined by... 

Chapter 9 Aqueous Solutions and Chemical Equilibria 228 Chapter 10 Effect of Electrolytes on Chemical Equilibria 267 Chapter 11 Solving Equilibrium Calculations for Complex Systems 281... 

The pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) properties of aqueous electrolyte and mixed electrolyte solutions are frequently needed to make practical engineering calculations. For example precise PVT properties of natural waters like seawater are required to determine the vertical stability, the circulation, and the mixing of waters in the oceans. Besides the practical interest, the PVT properties of aqueous electrolyte solutions can also yield information on the structure of solutions and the ionic interactions that occur in solution. The derived partial molal volumes of electrolytes yield information on ion-water and ion-ion interactions (1,2 ). The effect of pressure on chemical equilibria can also be derived from partial molal volume data (3). 

Part II covers the principles and application of chemical equilibrium systems in quantitative analysis. Chapter 9 covers the fundamentals of chemical equilibria. Chapter 10 discusses the effect of electrolytes on equilibrium systems. The systematic approach for attacking equilibrium problems in complex systems is the subject of Chapter 11. 

Htitz, U., Englezos, P., Measurement of Structure H Hydrate Phase Equilbrium and Effect of Electrolytes, in Proc. 7th International Conference on Fluid Properties and Phase Equilibria for Chemical Process Design (1995). 

The holistic thermodynamic approach based on material (charge, concentration and electron) balances is a firm and valuable tool for a choice of the best a priori conditions of chemical analyses performed in electrolytic systems. Such an approach has been already presented in a series of papers issued in recent years, see [1-4] and references cited therein. In this communication, the approach will be exemplified with electrolytic systems, with special emphasis put on the complex systems where all particular types (acid-base, redox, complexation and precipitation) of chemical equilibria occur in parallel and/or sequentially. All attainable physicochemical knowledge can be involved in calculations and none simplifying assumptions are needed. All analytical prescriptions can be followed. The approach enables all possible (from thermodynamic viewpoint) reactions to be included and all effects resulting from activation barrier(s) and incomplete set of equilibrium data presumed can be tested. The problems involved are presented on some examples of analytical systems considered lately, concerning potentiometric titrations in complex titrand + titrant systems. All calculations were done with use of iterative computer programs MATLAB and DELPHI. 

As described above, the role of ion solvation is crucial in the dissolution of electrolytes. Ion solvation also has significant effects on chemical reactions and equilibria. Ion-solvent interactions that may participate in ion solvation are shown in Table 2.3 [8],... 

We turn our attention in this chapter to systems in which chemical reactions occur. We are concerned not only with the equilibrium conditions for the reactions themselves, but also the effect of such reactions on phase equilibria and, conversely, the possible determination of chemical equilibria from known thermodynamic properties of solutions. Various expressions for the equilibrium constants are first developed from the basic condition of equilibrium. We then discuss successively the experimental determination of the values of the equilibrium constants, the dependence of the equilibrium constants on the temperature and on the pressure, and the standard changes of the Gibbs energy of formation. Equilibria involving the ionization of weak electrolytes and the determination of equilibrium constants for association and complex formation in solutions are also discussed. 

Systematic studies have shown that the effect of added electrolyte on equilibria is independent of the chemical nature of the electrolyte but depends on a property of the solution called the ionic strength. This quantity is defined as... 

Micellar Effects on Chemical Equflibria.—A few studies have been made of acid-base equilibria in micelles. Hydronium ion activity in anionic micelles has been measured conductimetrically using hydrophilic indicators, it being found that a plot of mn+ versus [H ]-t-[Na ] is linear with a slope of 0.82. The quantity mH+ is defined as the number of micellized hydrogen ions per surfactant head group, namely mH = [H ]tot—[H ]w/ [D]tot c.m.c., where [DJtot is the total catalyst concentration. The use of fluorescent indicators (21a) and (21b) in anionic, neutral, and cationic surfactantspermitted the evaluation of the electrical potential at the micellar surface as a function of added electrolytes. Indicator pK values for mixed micelles and pK values of weak... 

A detailed physicochemical model of the micelle-monomer equilibria was proposed [136], which is based on a full system of equations that express (1) chemical equilibria between micelles and monomers, (2) mass balances with respect to each component, and (3) the mechanical balance equation by Mitchell and Ninham [137], which states that the electrostatic repulsion between the headgroups of the ionic surfactant is counterbalanced by attractive forces between the surfactant molecules in the micelle. Because of this balance between repulsion and attraction, the equilibrium micelles are in tension free state (relative to the surface of charges), like the phospholipid bilayers [136,138]. The model is applicable to ionic and nonionic surfactants and to their mixtures and agrees very well with the experiment. It predicts various properties of single-component and mixed micellar solutions, such as the compositions of the monomers and the micelles, concentration of counterions, micelle aggregation number, surface electric charge and potential, effect of added salt on the CMC of ionic surfactant solutions, electrolytic conductivity of micellar solutions, etc. [136,139]. 

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