Infrared spectroscopy of aqueous ionic salt solutions at low concentrations

The analysis by infrared spectroscopy of aqueous solutions of the binary inorganic salts NaI and NaCl and the ternary salts CaCl2 and BaCl2 at concentrations from 1000 to 2 mM was carried out to complement a previous study done at higher concentrations on nine binary salts (alkali halides) and one ternary salt (MgCl2) [J.-J. Max and C. Chapados, J. Chem. Phys. 115, 2664 (2001)]. These salts are completely ionized in aqueous solutions, forming monoatomic species that do not absorb IR but that perturb the surrounding water, modifying its spectrum. The factor analysis of the spectra revealed that all these salt solutions were composed of two water types: pure water and salt solvated water. The authors obtained pure salt solvated water spectra for all the salts using an extrapolation technique. The water types obtained are constant for the binary and ternary salts down to 2 mM. For the binary salts, we determine that 5.0 and 4.0 water molecules are solvated to the Na+-Cl- and Na+-I- ion pairs, respectively. These numbers are the same as that obtained at higher concentrations. For the new ternary salts, we find that 6.0 and 8.0 water molecules are solvated to Ca++-(Cl-)2 and Ba++-(Cl-)2 ion pairs, respectively. These numbers are higher than the four water molecules solvated to Mg++-(Cl-)2 ion pairs determined previously, but show a progression that follows their atomic numbers. These results constitute new experimental results on "simple" systems whose molecular organization is still a matter of debate. The IR method that probes the system at the molecular level is a method different than the macroscopic ones that give the activity coefficients. The IR gives direct observation at the molecular level of the strong ion-water interactions that are often neglected and its water structure not considered in macroscopic methods. The present results and their analysis together with those obtained by other methods will facilitate the determination of the organization of these aqueous systems.