ION SOLVATION IN SALTS OF BIOLOGICALLY IMPORTANT RARE EARTH METALS WITH AQUEOUS SUGAR ALCOHOL (SORBITOL) MIXED-SOLVENT SYSTEMS

Abstract

Acoustic investigations have examined the salts of rare earth metals, such as lanthanum(III) chloride, in sorbitol-water mixed solvent systems of different concentrations at 303.15 K temperature and 1 atmospheric pressure. Various parameters have been calculated from the measured values of ultrasonic velocity, density and viscosity data. These parameters help to characterize the ion-solvent interaction and are also supportive of the structure-promoting tendency in the present solute-mixed solvent system. The limiting solvation number, Sn0, of lanthanum(III) chloride is maximum in water, rather than in sorbitol-water mixed solvent systems, which is attributed to an interesting outcome regarding the behaviour of sorbitol and water in comparison to other saccharides.

Keywords

• rare-earth metal
• sugar alcohol
• acoustic parameters
• solvation number
• limiting solvation number
• solute-solvent interaction