A Revisited Definition of the Three Solute Descriptors Related to the Van der Waals Forces in Solutions

It is currently admitted that the intermolecular forces implicated in Gas Liquid Chromatography (GLC) can be expressed as a product of parameters (or descriptors) of solutes and of parameters of solvents. The present study is limited to those of solutes, and among them the three ones are involved in the Van der Waals forces, whereas the two ones involved in the hydrogen bonding are left aside at this stage. These three studied parameters, which we call δ, ω and ε, respectively reflect the three types of Van der Waals forces: dispersion, orientation or polarity strictly speaking, and induction-polarizability. These parameters have been experimentally obtained in previous studies for 121 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) via an original Multiplicative Matrix Analysis (MMA) applied to a superabundant and accurate GLC data set. Then, also in previous studies, attempts have been made to predict these parameters via a Simplified Molecular Topology procedure (SMT). Because these last published results have been somewhat disappointing, a promising new strategy of prediction is developed and detailed in the present article.

Interest of Splitting the Enthalpies of Vaporization in Four Distinct Parts Reflecting the Van der Waals and the Hydrogen Bonding Forces

An experimental characterization of the Van der Waals forces involved in volatile organic compounds (VOC) dissolved into stationary phases of gas liquid chromatography (GLC) has been started at the beginning of the seventies. This field has been reactivated from 1994 thanks to a fruitful cooperation between our CNRS team and the group of Ervin Kováts at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne. The applied strategy can be summarized, in the first instance, as the experimental measurement of accurate and superabundant mutual affinities of a limited number of VOC and stationary phases and their processing using an original tool named Multiplicative Matrix Analysis (MMA). Then, in the second stage, the obtained results have been compared with molecular properties well established, as the Van der Waals molecular volume, the refraction index and the polar surface area (PSA), in order to get generalized values for any compound. The present study summarizes the positive results developed in our three last papers on this topic (2013, 2016 and 2018), as well as the attempt to overcome the negative ones using enthalpies of vaporization.

Updated Definition of the Three Solvent Descriptors Related to the Van der Waals Forces in Solutions

Innovative viewpoint on the older topic of the van der Waals forces, is of interesting and significant issue to be concerned in both the fields related to the fundamental investigation and thus valuable in guiding the new physiochemical phenomena and processes for both academic research and practical applications. The intermolecular Van der Waals forces involved in solutions have been recently deeply reconsidered as far as the solute side is concerned. More precisely, the solute descriptors (or parameters) experimentally established, have been accurately related to molecular features of a Simplified Molecular Topology. In the present study, an equivalent result is reached on the solvent side. Both experimental parameters have been obtained simultaneously in previous Gas Liquid Chromatographic studies for 121 Volatile Organic Compounds and 11 liquid stationary phases, via an original Multiplicative Matrix Analysis. In that experimental step, five groups of forces were identified, two of hydrogen bonding and three of Van der Waals: 1) dispersion (London), 2) orientation or polarity strictly speaking (Keesom), and 3) induction-polarizability (Debye). At this stage, an attempt of characterization the solvent parameters via the SMT procedure has been limited to those related to the Van der Waals forces, those related to the hydrogen bonding being for now left aside.

A Slightly Modified Expression of the Polar Surface Area Applied to an Olfactory Study

The polar surface area of a molecule is currently defined as the surface sum over all polar atoms, primarily oxygen and nitrogen, also including their attached hydrogens (named PSA1 in the present study). Some authors also include sulfur and phosphor (PSA3). The slight modification suggested here is based on the fact that it is difficult to consider, on a theoretical point of view, hexavalent S and pentavalents N and P as polar atoms. Indeed, in these cases, all their peripheral electrons are involved in bondings. We propose to define PSA2 using the initial definition extended to O, S, N, P, with the exception of hexavalent S and pentavalents N and P. In order to test this hypothesis, the three expressions PSA1, PSA2 and PSA3 have been applied in a QSAR to a physiological phenomenon called comfort olfactory perceived intensity, for the human responses to 186 odorants (QSAR stands for Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship). The PSA2 expression has been selected as the more suitable, associated with two other molecular properties (molar refraction and Van der Waals molecular volume).