Effects of atmospherically important solvated ions on organic acid adsorption at the surface of aqueous solutions

The effects of salts on the solubility of amphiphilic organic molecules are of importance to numerous atmospheric, environmental, and biological systems. A detailed picture of the influence of dissolved atmospheric salts, NaCl and Na2SO4, on the adsorption of hexanoic acid at the vapor/water interface is developed using vibrational sum-frequency spectroscopy and surface tension measurements as a function of time, organic concentration, and solution pH. We have found that for hexanoic acid adsorption at the vapor/water interface, a fast initial adsorption is followed by two considerably slower processes: a reorientation of the polar headgroup and a restructuring of the headgroup solvation shell. The addition of salts affects this restructuring by reducing the: range of water-headgroup interactions immediately upon surface adsorption for ion containing solutions. Reorientation of the organic headgroup with time occurs at the surface of both salt-containing and salt-free solutions, but the most stable orientation differs with the added ions. The dissolved salts also enhance the interfacial concentration of hexanoic acid, consistent with the known salting-out behavior of Cl- and SO(4)(2-)anions.