Molecular Dynamics of Carbohydrate Aqueous Solutions. Dielectric Relaxation as a Function of Glucose and Fructose Concentration

At some solute concentrations c between 1 and 5.4 mol/L, the complex (electric) permittivity of aqueous solutions of d-glucose and d-fructose has been determined as a function of frequency υ between 300 kHz and 40 GHz. The permittivity spectrum of the 5.4 mol/L d-fructose solution has been measured at six temperatures between 10 and 35 °C, and the other spectra have been taken at 25 °C. All dielectric spectra revealed one dispersion/dielectric loss region, which indicated a rather homogeneous relaxation of the solute and solvent dipole moments. Analytically, the measured spectra were represented by the Cole−Cole relaxation spectral function, which corresponds with a continuous, symmetrically bell shaped relaxation time distribution. The parameters of the spectral function are discussed to show that the monosaccharides exhibit unusual hydration properties. Particularly, when treated in terms of a wait-and-switch model of dipole reorientation, the principal dielectric relaxation time is indicative of the ex...