R. A. Robinson Memorial Lecture. Hydration of cation–cation and anion–anion pairs

Abstract

Electrolyte mixture thermodynamics is strongly affected by close interactions between ions with the same sign of charge. Also in suitable cases spin relaxation, electron-transfer kinetics and distinct diffusion coefficients are sensitive to configurations in which the ions in such pairs are so close that their hydration shells interpenetrate or rearrange. Many such close pairs are surprisingly stable.