Continuum and simple molecular approach to describe solvent polarity for real polar organic solvents

Abstract

A comparison has been made between the relative permittivity function ƒ(ε) and the molecular parameter β resulting from the dielectric theory, both applied as expressing solvent polarity, the former in the continuum approach and the latter in a very simple molecular approach (β, similar to the y coefficient of the dielectric theory, is proportional to µ²/V; µ is the electric dipole moment and V the molar volume). It has been shown that the application of the molecular parameter β instead of permittivity in the analysis of solvent effects could be more appropriate as it enables (within the individual classes of solvents) linear correlations between β and parameters characteristic for kinetics or spectral data to be obtained.