Some remarks on the solubility of gases in liquid long-chain n-alkanes and n-alkan-1-ols

The Ostwald coefficients L(2,1) of He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, N-2, O-2, CH4, CF4 and SF6 dissolved in several homologous n-alkanes, n-C1H21+2, 6 less than or equal to l less than or equal to 16, and n-alkan-1-ols, n-C1H21+1OH, 1 less than or equal to l less than or equal to 11, were recently measured at 298. 15 K and atmospheric pressure with a modified Ben-Naim/Baer apparatus. Altogether, 201 gas/liquid systems were investigated. For about half of these systems, both pressure control and measurement of the volume ol: gas dissolved in a given volume of solvent were achieved with a microprocessor. This improved medium-precision instrument (sigma less than or equal to 0.5% in most cases) combines easy handling with fully automated data retrieval, and is totally mercury-free. In this communication, the salient points of data reduction are presented, with the focus on the estimation of several important auxiliary quantities such as second virial coefficients and partial molar volumes at infinite dilution. The effect of the chain length l of the n-alkane or the n-alkan-1-ol upon solubility is demonstrated, and some correlations between L(2,1), or the derived Henry fugacities H-2,H-1, and appropriate molecular and/or bulk properties of the gases and the solvents are discussed.