The applicability and accuracy of
isothermal titration calorimetry
(ITC) to investigate intermolecular interactions in a high concentration
domain applicable to liquid–liquid extraction (LLX) was studied
for acid–base interactions. More accurate fits can be obtained
using a sequential binding mechanism compared to a single reaction
model, at the risk of finding a local minimum. Experiments with 0.24
M tri-n-octylamine (TOA) resulted in a residue of
fit of 4.3% for the single reaction model, with a standard deviation
σ of 1.6% in the stoichiometry parameter n,
12% in the complexation constant Kn,1, and 2.5% in the enthalpy ΔHn,1. For the sequential model, σ was
higher: 11% in K1,1, 26% in Kn+1,1, and 12% in ΔHn+1,1. This study clearly showed that,
at higher concentrations (order of moles per liter), accurate parameter
estimation is possible and parameter values are concentration dependent.
It is thus important to do ITC at the application concentration.