Molecular Orbital Nature of Solubility of Shot Chain n-Alkanes in Water and Their Reaction Rate Constants with Nitronium Cations: A DFT Study

The new theoretical models describe both the solubility S of the shot chain n-alkanes in water at 298.15 K, and their reaction rate constants k with nitronium cation NO2+ at 293.15 K on the basis of their molecular orbital characteristics. It is shown that both the quantities S and k are determined by the energies Eorb of the specific virtual (for S) and occupied (for k) molecular orbitals of these n-alkanes. The obtained regression equations confirm the theoretically found dependences of S and k on the absolute value of Eorb. This fact demonstrates that the electronic structure particularities of the studied n-alkanes play a crucial role in both their above-mentioned physicochemical properties.