Abstract:
The equilibrium constant
K for isotopic exchange reactions between boric acid B(OH)
3 in the external solution and the main species of B(OH)
4-,B
3O
3(OH)
52- and B
3O
3(OH)
4- formed in an ion-exchange resin is one of the fundamental parameters in the study of boron isotopes separation by ion-exchange chromatography.Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine the
K value accurately from experiments.Density function theory(DFT)calculations were used to compute the vibrational frequencies of boron isotopomers of the gasphase B(OH)
3 and B(OH)
4- at the B3LYP/6—31G level.The values of reduced partition function ratio(RPFR)of the four boron species,B(OH)
3, B(OH)
4-, B
3O
3(OH)
52- and B
3O
3(OH)
4-,were estimated following Urey’s model,using the calculated frequencies obtained from DFT calculation.The equilibrium constant
K of isotopic exchange reactions were theoretically obtained as the ratio of the RPFRs of two boron species. The results implied that the isotopic effect between B(OH)
3 and B(OH)
4- was remarkable with a calculated equilibrium constant
K of 1.025 7 at 25 ℃. However, these
K valcues for the reactions between B(OH)
3 with other two species,B
3O
3(OH)
52- and B
3O
3(OH)
4,were smaller around 1.017 2 and 1.008 4, respectively.