Hydrogen bonding induced proton exchange reactions in dense D2-NH3 and D2-CH4 mixtures

We have investigated high-pressure behaviors of simple binary mixtures of NH3 and D2 to 50 GPa and CH4 and D2 to 30 GPa using confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy. The spectral data indicate strong proton exchange reactions occur in dense D2-NH3 mixture, producing different isotopes of ammonia such as NH3, NH2D, NHD2, and ND3. In contrast, the proton exchange process in dense D2-CH4 mixture is highly limited, and no vibration feature is apparent for deuterated methane. The vibrational modes of H2 isotopes in D2-NH3 are blue shifted from those of pure H2 isotopes, whereas the modes of D2-CH4 show overall agreement with those in pure D2 and CH4. In turn, this result advocates the presence of strong repulsion and thereby internal pressure in D2-NH3 mixture, which are absent in D2-CH4. In fact, the bond length of hydrogen molecules in D2-NH3, calculated from the present spectral data, is shorter than that observed in pure hydrogen - supporting the enhanced intermolecular interaction in the mixture. Comparing the present spectral results with those previously observed in D2-H2O mixtures further suggests that the strength of repulsive interaction or the magnitude of internal pressure in the mixtures is proportional to the strength of hydrogen bonding in H2O, NH3, and CH4 in decreasing order. Hence, we suggest that the proton exchange is assisted by hydrogen bonding in these molecules.