title: Quasi-elastic neutron scattering study of dimethyl-sulfoxide-water mixtures: probing molecular mobility in a nonideal solution.
abstract: The translational and rotational motions of water and dimethyl sulfoxide, [DMSO, (CH(3))(2)SO] have been investigated using quasi-elastic neutron scattering. Water-DMSO mixtures at five DMSO mole fractions, chi(DMSO), ranging from 0 to 0.75, were measured. Hydrogen-deuterium substitution was used to extract independently the water proton dynamics (d-DMSO-H(2)O), the DMSO methyl proton dynamics (h-DMSO-D(2)O) and to obtain background corrections (d-DMSO-D(2)O). The translational diffusion of water slows down significantly compared to bulk water at all chi(DMSO)>0. The rotational time constant for water exhibits a maximum at chi(DMSO)=0.33 that corresponds to the observed maximum of the viscosity of the mixture. Data for DMSO can be analyzed in terms of a relatively slow tumbling of the molecule about its center-of-mass in conjunction with random translational diffusion. The rotational time constant for this motion exhibits some dependence on chi(DMSO), while the translational diffusion constant shows no clear variation for chi(DMSO)>0. The results presented reinforce the idea that due to the stronger associative nature of DMSO, DMSO-water aggregates are formed over the whole composition range, disturbing the tetrahedral natural arrangement of the water molecules. As a consequence adding DMSO to water causes a drastic slowing down of the dynamics of the water molecule, and vice versa.
authors.affiliation: Hahn-Meitner-Institut, SFl Glienicker Strasse, 100, D-14109 Berlin, Germany. bordallo@hmi.de
authors.forename: H N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Bordallo
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Herwig
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Luther
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Levinger