Solvation of inorganic ions

The solvation energy for an ion is the energy change on going from the naked ion in the gas phase to the ion in solution. For common inorganic ions these values in water are very high. Some typical values are given in Table 12.6. 

These are to be compared with activation energies for organic reactions which are commonly in the range 40-130 kJ mol Clearly, solvation energies are a dominant feature of the energetics of a reacting system in water which involves these ionic species. 

More useful, because they can be used to compare reactivities between solvents, are single ion transfer energies. These are a measure of the dif- 

Values given are the mean of several, from different sources, given in ref. 10 

Usually it is the inorganic anion which is the reactive component. Table 12.8 shows 5Gtr for a selection of anions. 

---