Chlorine dioxide, a stable free radical, plays a very important role in water purification. It is a strong oxidizing agent that is used to oxidize harmful metals, found in unpurified ground water, to form a precipitate. Because it also possesses strong antimicrobial properties, chlorine dioxide is emerging as a leading disinfectant for medical equipment. Although chlorine dioxide is primarily used to eliminate harmful substances aqueous environments, very little is known about how it interacts with water itself. In a spectroscopic study, UV-vis and Raman spectra, supported by DFT methods, begin to reveal these important intermolecular interactions. Raman spectra of varying concentrations of ClO2 in water reveal there is no shift in the fundamental stretching mode at 945 cm−1, indicating there is no charge transfer between ClO2 and water as the number of intermolecular interactions increases. The lack of charge transfer is also observed in methanol and chloroform solutions of ClO2. A comparison of computed Raman spectra of ClO2/(H2O)x (x =1−4) shows a red shift of the fundamental stretching mode, indicating charge transfer.

Spectroscopic and computational study of chlorine dioxide/water interactions

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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