A characteristic vector analysis of solvent effects for thermodynamic data

Abstract

Characteristic vector analysis has been performed on six sets of thermodynamic data relating to the solvation of electrolytes, polar molecules, and single ions in pure solvents. The analysis shows that variation in a given thermodynamic property with nature of the solvent can be accounted for with two characteristic vectors and that these vectors are linearly related to empirical measures of solvent basicity and acidity. The results confirm that an empirical relation proposed earlier by the present authors can be used to describe solvation effects with the limitation that the basicity of strongly structured protic solvents is difficult to describe quantitatively.