Surprising acidity of hydrated lithium cations in organic solvents.
Lithium cations are shown to have a significant role in catalyzing oxygen and proton reduction along with S(N)1 reactions in biphasic systems. We propose that this catalytic effect is due to the surprising acidity of the hydrated cations; interactions between the cation and its surrounding solvation shell will make the constituent water molecules more acidic.
Laboratoire d'Electrochimie Physique et Analytique, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 6, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. hubert.girault@epfl.ch.
Haiqiang
H
Deng
Pekka
P
Peljo
T Jane
TJ
Stockmann
Liang
L
Qiao
Tuomas
T
Vainikka
Kyösti
K
Kontturi
Marcin
M
Opallo
Hubert H
HH
Girault