Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.108, No.24, 8419-8426, 2004
Force field optimization for organic mercury compounds
Organic mercury compounds can be found in petroleum and natural gas products in very small concentrations. The knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of these compounds is important for the petroleum industry. Among the thermodynamic properties useful for industry, the solubilities of organic mercury compounds such as dimethylmercury (Hg(CH3)(2)) and diethylmercury (Hg(C2H5)(2)) in organic or aqueous solvents are important to be determined. Since experiments are difficult to perform due to the very high toxicity of these molecules, we developed a force field including electrostatic interactions to be able to obtain these properties by molecular simulation. Our results are in good agreement with the experimental data and also show a weak influence of the electrostatic part in the potential. This force field development enables us to obtain liquid-vapor equilibrium of mercury compound-light alkane mixture.