The effect of cation size on ion pairing of methyl orange dye with tetraalkylammonium and benzyltrialkylammonium ions in aqueous solution

Formation constants have been measured by a solvent distribution method for the ion pairing of an arene sulfonate, methyl orange dye, with two series of quaternary ammonium ions: R₄N⁺(R=Et,n-Pr,n-Bu, andn-Pent) and C₆H₅CH₂R₃N⁺ (R=Me, Et,n-Pr,n-Bu,n-Pent, andn-Hex). Ion pairing increases dramatically as the length of the R group increases beyond butyl. Using a hard-sphere model for contact ion pairs, it is estimated that coulombic attraction contributes about –kT to the binding free energy and decreases slightly with increasing size of R₄N⁺. Other factors related to solvation effects, of which cosphere overlap predominates, contribute from –2kT to –7kT of binding energy. Plots of logK for association as a function of cation size show an inflection with decreasing slope between R=propyl and R=butyl. Possible causes for the inflection are considered.