Molecular Structure and Adsorption of Dimethyl Sulfoxide at the Surface of Aqueous Solutions

Surface vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy complemented with surface tension measurements has been utilized to probe the air/ dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) interface as a function of DMSO concentration in water. For the neat DMSO surface, the DMSO methyl groups extend away from the liquid phase and VSFG polarization studies show that the methyl transition dipole moments of pure DMSO are on average oriented a maximum of 55° from the surface normal. A blue shift of the methyl symmetric stretch is observed with decreasing DMSO concentration and attributed to an electronic interaction between the sulfur and the methyl groups of DMSO. From surface tension data of the aqueous DMSO system, it is shown that DMSO number densities are higher at the surface of DMSO-water solutions relative to bulk DMSO concentrations revealing surface partitioning effects. Structural changes of surface DMSO are discussed in terms of monomers, dimers, and clusters which could account for the large differences in VSFG intensities and surface number densities. From surface tension measurements and utilizing DMSO activities, ∆Gads is calculated to be -19.8 ((0.4) kJ/mol.