Apparent molal volumes of symmetrical and asymmetrical isomers of tetrabutylammonium bromide in water at several temperatures

•Apparent molal volumes of five isomers of Bu4NBr in water have been measured.•The structural effect of branched and linear chains is discussed.•The structural contributions to the ionic volume were calculated.

Apparent molal volumes of a series of differently substituted quaternary ammonium bromides, namely tetra-iso-butyl-, tetra-sec-butyl-, tetra-n-butyl-, di-n-butyl-di-sec-butyl- and di-n-butyl-di-iso-butylammonium bromide have been determined as a function of molal concentration at (298.15, 303.15 and 308.15) K. Partial molar volumes at infinite dilution and ionic molar volumes of these quaternary ammonium cations were determined. Structural volume contributions to the ionic molar volume were also calculated. The symmetric and asymmetric quaternary ammonium cations are “structure making” ions. The contribution of the branched butyl chains predominates over the linear butyl chains in the asymmetric cations.