Transport of Water by Group 1 and 2 Ions with t-Butyl Alcohol as Reference Substance: Comparison with Raffinose and Dioxan

Measurement of the transport of water with respect to the second solvent component in a binary aqueous mixture gives the Washburn number, $ w_{\text{W}} = (n_{\text{W}} )_{ + } t_{ + } - (n_{\text{W}} )_{ - } t_{ - } $ , in a transport number determination, where the ions move in opposite directions, and give the Erdey–Grúz number, $ \Upsigma n_{\text{W}} = (n_{\text{W}} )_{ + } + (n_{\text{W}} )_{ - } $ , in a diffusion experiment, where the ions move in the same direction. Here n _W and t are the number of water molecules and transport number, respectively, of the anion or cation. Combination of the results of these two experiments allows unambiguous determination of values for the solvent transport numbers, $ n_{\text{W}} $ , of the individual ions. While the values of $ n_{\text{W}} $ depend on the cosolvent, at high dilutions of the second component the highest value of $ n_{\text{W}} $ found, $ N_{\text{W}} $ , should approach the number of water molecules transported by the ion in pure water, $ N_{\text{W}}^{0} $ . New data for alkali-metal, alkaline-earth metal, hydrogen and halide ions in dilute mixtures of t-butyl alcohol with water are presented. Values of $ N_{\text{W}} $ rounded to whole numbers thus found are: 12 (Li⁺), 10 (Na⁺), 6 (K⁺), 5 (Rb⁺), 5 (Cs⁺), 1 (H⁺), 13 (Ca²⁺), 16 (Sr²⁺) and 15 (Ba²⁺). Factors influencing preferential solvation are briefly discussed. Detailed recalculations of $ n_{\text{W}} $ in the raffinose–water system from literature data also allows resolution of a problem with the Onsager Relations.