The role of analyte concentration in accelerated reaction rates in evaporating droplets

Abstract

Accelerated reactions in microdroplets have been reported for a wide range of reactions with some microdroplet reactions occurring over a million times faster than the same reaction in bulk solution. Unique chemistry at the air–water interface has been implicated as a primary factor for accelerated reaction rates, but the role of analyte concentration in evaporating droplets has not been as well studied. Here, theta-glass electrospray emitters and mass spectrometry are used to rapidly mix two solutions on the low to sub-microsecond time scale and produce aqueous nanodrops with different sizes and lifetimes. We demonstrate that for a simple bimolecular reaction where surface chemistry does not appear to play a role, reaction rate acceleration factors are between 10² and 10⁷ for different initial solution concentrations, and these values do not depend on nanodrop size. A rate acceleration factor of 10⁷ is among the highest reported and can be attributed to concentration of analyte molecules, initially far apart in dilute solution, but brought into close proximity in the nanodrop through evaporation of solvent from the nanodrops prior to ion formation. These data indicate that analyte concentration phenomenon is a significant factor in reaction acceleration where droplet volume throughout the experiment is not carefully controlled.