Isotope fractionation of benzene during partitioning – Revisited

Isotope fractionation between benzene-D0 and benzene-D6 caused by multi-step partitioning of the benzenes between water and two organic solvents, n-octane and 1-octanol, as well as between water and the gas phase, was measured. The obtained fractionation factors αH = KH/KD are αH = 1.080 ± 0.015 and αH = 1.074 ± 0.015 for extraction into n-octane and 1-octanol, respectively, and αH = 1.049 ± 0.010 for evaporation from aqueous solution. The comparison of solvent- and gas-phase partitioning reveals that about 2/3 of the driving force of fractionation is due to different interactions in the aqueous phase, whereas 1/3 is due to different interactions in the organic phase. The heavy benzene isotopologue behaves more ‘hydrophilically’ and the light one more ‘hydrophobically’. This synergistic alignment gives rise to relatively large fractionation effects in partitioning between water and non-polar organic matter. In contrast to a previous study, there is no indication of strong fractionation by specific interactions between benzene and octanol.