Interdependence of conformational and chemical reaction dynamics during ion assembly in polar solvents

We have utilized time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy to study the interdependence of the conformational and chemical reaction dynamics of ion assembly in solution. We investigated the chemical interconversion dynamics of the LiNCS ion pair and the (LiNCS)(2) ion-pair dimer, as well as the spectral diffusion dynamics of these ionic assemblies. For the strongly coordinating Lewis base solvents benzonitrile, dimethyl carbonate, and ethyl acetate, we observe Li(+) coordination by both solvent molecules and NCS(-) anions, while the weak Lewis base solvent nitromethane shows no evidence for solvent coordination of Li(+) ions. The strong interaction between the ion-pair dimer structure and the Lewis base solvents leads to ion-pair dimer solvation dynamics that proceed more slowly than the ion-pair dimer dissociation. We have attributed the slow spectral diffusion dynamics to electrostatic reorganization of the solvent molecules coordinated to the Li(+) cations present in the ion-pair dimer structure and concluded that the dissociation of ion-pair dimers depends more critically on longer length scale electrostatic reorganization. This unusual inversion of the conformational and chemical reaction rates does not occur for ion-pair dimer dissociation in nitromethane or for ion pair association in any of the solvents.