A Study on Hydration of Urea and Urotropin by Density and Speed of Sound Measurements in Aqueous Solutions

Experimental data on the speed of propagation of ultrasound waves, density, and isobaric heat capacity in aqueous solutions of urea and urotropin have been considered. The findings have been used for calculating the molar isentropic compressibilities of solutions of the investigated substances over the temperature range 278.15 to 308.15 K. Invoking a theoretical solvation model based on the isentropic compressibility, which takes into account compressibilities of the hydrated complexes, their structural characteristics have been determined in aqueous solutions of nonelectrolytes: hydration numbers h, molar isentropic compressibility of hydrated complexes βhVh, molar volumes of water in a hydration shell V1h, molar volumes of the solute without its hydration environment V2h, and many other properties. The possibility of hydrophobic solvation has been shown for urotropin solutions and hydrophilic solvation for urea solutions.