FACTOR-ANALYSIS APPLIED TO THE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF SOLVENT COMPOSITION AND NATURE OF THE INERT ELECTROLYTE ON THE PROTONATION CONSTANTS IN DIOXANE-WATER MIXTURES

The effect of solvent properties on protonation constants was studied for water-dioxane mixtures covering a wide range of solvent compositions, from data sets on several solutes with a variety of functional groups. The establishment of the model was carried out using different approaches: the use of a classical procedure, where the best multiparametric fit to the Kamlet and Taft equation was evaluated for each substance; and the application of combined factor analysis and target factor analysis to quantify and identify the factors affecting the variation of the whole data sets, without the need to postulate any a priori hypothetical model. Further, a preliminary overview of the influence of different inert electrolytes on the values of the solute protonation constants in this solvent mixture was also obtained through factor analysis.