A fluorescence spectroscopy study of preferential solvation in binary solvents

Abstract

Published data are reviewed on the dynamics of nonspecific preferential solvation in binary solvents, as obtained by fluorescence spectroscopy (in particular, by magnetic spin fluorescence method) using probe molecules in which strong charge redistribution yielding dipoles and ion pairs takes place upon excitation. The dynamics of preferential solvation of the excited probe in a binary solvent is described by a sequence of consecutive equilibrium reactions, in which each step is the absorption of a molecule of the polar component by the solvation shell of the excited probe, where transport from the bulk solution occurs via translational diffusion. The characteristic effect of the time saturation of solvation is attributed to the energetically unfavorable process of interface formation between the solvation shell, which a polar nanosized cluster, and the homogeneous binary mixture. Such polar clusters may affect the course of photochemical reactions involving charged species or particles with a large dipole moment. Simple model concepts, such as the Frenkel theory of heterophase fluctuations, the Onsager model, and the Hildebrand theory of solubility used for the description of the physical picture of preferential solvation, are considered.