Solvent effects in organic chemistry — recent developments

Abstract

Solvent effects on a number of different processes have been surveyed, and results of the application of multiple linear regression analysis are discussed. The processes examined include examples of solubility of gases or vapours, distribution coefficients of solutes between water and a series of solvents, and solvent effects on conformational equilibria, on keto–enol tautomerism, and on reaction rates. It is shown that two particular equations, that due to Koppel and Palm and extended by Makitra and Pirig, and that due to Abraham, Kamlet, and Taft, can cope quite satisfactorily with solvent effects on these various processes. It is pointed out that interpretation of parameters obtained from equations that involve macroscopic quantities such as ΔG≠ or ΔG0 is not necessarily straightforward, and that some model is needed in order to interpret these macroscopic quantities in terms of microscopic quantities that can characterise, for example, solute–solvent interactions.