Weak molecular associations investigated by 1H-NMR spectroscopy on a neat organosiloxane-solvent mixture

The rational design of new sensitive materials for chemical sensors relies on the knowledge of molecular interactions between the chemical species in question with compounds that may potentially be present in the gas phase. In this context, the intermolecular interactions between a family of functionalized polysiloxanes and a series of organic compounds have been investigated. This work addresses the problem of determining the association constant or energy by studying neat liquid mixtures without solvents. An original approach has been proposed to obtain such information from the excess function of the difference in chemical shifts between both interacting species. Data obtained as a function of the composition of the mixtures have been fitted according to two models: either by considering the formation of a 1:1 complex governed by an equilibrium constant or by the existence of a local composition following the Wilson model. Both methods have been tested on model compounds and the results have been compared with solubility enthalpies calculated using Hansen coefficients.