Empirical solvent polarity parameters ET(30) were determined by UV–visible spectrophotometry using Dimroth– Reichardt's betaine dye, as a function of composition, for (aprotic + aprotic) and (aprotic + protic) binary solvent mixtures. For (aprotic + aprotic) solvent systems the cosolvent was toluene, and the other solvents used were selected with different structural characteristics and an extensive range of polarity: chloroform, 1,4‐dioxane, ethyl acetate, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, nitromethane and N,N‐dimethylformamide. For (aprotic + protic) solvent systems, the protic cosolvent used was methanol, and the aprotic solvents selected were toluene, chloroform, 1,1,1‐trichloroethane, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, N,N‐dimethylformamide, and dimethyl sulphoxide. Each system was analysed according to its deviations from additivity due to selective solvation of the betaine. A preliminary application of these empirical solvent polarity parameters was related to the solvent effects in a simple example of a nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction.

Estero 2829, (3000) Santa Fe, Repliblica ArgentinaThe kinetics of the reaction between l-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and piperidine was studied in several completely non-aqueous binary solvent mixtures where the preferential solvation is the rule at 15,Z and 40 "C.The reaction was chosen as the simplest example of aromatic nucleophilic substitutions (ANS). For (aprotic solvent + aprotic co-solvent) binary systems the co-solvent was toluene, and the rest of the solvents used were selected with different structural characteristics and an extensive range of polarity. In this kind of mixture a property of mixed binary solvents would be defined by means of ET(30) values and the solvent effects on this simple model of ANS reactions are similar to those of aprotic pure solvents, especially if hydrogen-bond donor solvent mixtures are excluded from the analysis. For (aprotic solvent + protic co-solvent) binary systems the cosolvent used was methanol. The presence of a protic solvent in the mixture strongly determines the solvent effects on the reaction. In this type of binary mixture, the chemical probe under consideration may not be generally valid to interpret solvation effects. Additionally, empirical solvent polarity parameters E,(30) were determined UV-VIS spectrophotometrically for some pure aprotic solvents and, as a function of the composition, for (dimethylformamide + toluene), (toluene + methanol) and (l,l,l-trichloroethane + methanol) at 15 and 40°C, with the purpose of extending the studies on the empirical polarity indices in binary solvent mixtures to the thermo-solvatochromic area.