Author Description

Chemical reactions generally take place in solution and often involve ions. The behaviour of ions in solution, manifested through ion solvation, is therefore of prime interest in chemistry. This book considers in depth the phenomenology of ion solvation and the models and interpretations that have been proposed as the physical causes for the observed phenomena. It contains a thorough discussion of the statistical thermodynamic background of the solvation process from which a discussion of the actual thermodynamics is developed. This, in turn, serves as a background to the structural and kinetic features of ion solvation. The book begins by considering the relatively simple case of interactions between an ion and few solvent molecules in the gas phase, and proceeds to deal with solvation in a bulk solvent with well-known properties (water), solvation in bulk nonaqueous solvents, selective solvation in solvent mixtures and solvation in competition with ion-ion interactions. These concepts are illustrated in the final chapter of the book by many examples of applications. Included in the text are numerous tables of data which will enable the reader to use the book not only as a monograph but also as a reference volume. The applications considered cover a wide range of fields - electrochemistry, hydrometallurgy, separation chemistry and organic chemistry.