Molecular polarizabilities in aqueous proton transfer reactions

Dipole polarizabilities of individual ions and molecules are computed from first principles in three condensed-phase systems: pure water, pure hydrofluoric acid, and an equimolar mixture of water and hydrofluoric acid in which HF is mostly ionized. We find that the polarizability of fluorine and oxygen centers varies linearly with the value of the bond order, which measures the local degree of advancement of the ionization reaction F-H+H2O<-->[Fδ-·H·δ+OH2]<-->F-+H3O+. This observation explains the validity of the Lorentz-Lorenz formula for mixtures of acids and water and could have important practical consequences concerning the construction of empirical polarizable reactive force fields. Our results are consistent with the Mulliken charge-transfer picture of proton transfer reactions. The present results also suggest that the average isotropic polarizability of a chemical entity changes substantially only when that entity is involved in charge-transfer processes.