Complexation of Co-contaminant Mixtures between Silver(I) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

The complexation of co-contaminant mixtures between Ag(I) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules (naphthalene, pyrene, and perylene) were investigated to quantify the equilibrium constants of their complexes and elucidate the interactions between Ag(I) and PAH molecules. The apparent solubilities of PAHs in aqueous solutions increased with increasing Ag(I) ion concentration. The values, K$_1$ and K$_2$ of equilibrium constants of complexes of Ag(I)-PAHs, were 2.990 and 0.378, 3.615 and 1.261, and 4.034 and 1.255, for naphthalene, pyrene, and perylene, respectively, The K$_1$and K$_2$ values of PAHs for Ag(I) increased in the order of naphthalene ＜ pyrene ＜ perylene and naphthalene ＜ pyrene ≒ perylene, respectively, indicating that a larger size of PAH molecule is likely to have more a richer concentration of electrons on the plane surfaces which can lead to stronger complexes with the Ag(I) ion. For the species of Ag(I)-PAH complexes, a 1:1 Ag(I) : the aromatic complex, AgAr$\^$＋/, was found to be a predominant species over a 2:1 Ag(I) : aromatic complex, Ag$_2$Ar$\^$＋＋/. The PAH molecules with four or more aromatic rings and/or bay regions were observed to have slightly less affinity with the Ag(I) ion than expected, which might result from inhibiting forces such as the spread of aromatic $\pi$ electrons over o wide molecular surface area and the intermolecular electronic repulsion in bay regions.