Molecular structure of alcohol-water mixtures.
We use x-ray emission spectroscopy to elucidate the molecular structure of liquid methanol, water, and methanol-water solutions. We find that molecules in the pure liquid methanol predominantly persist as hydrogen-bonded chains and rings with six and/or eight molecules of equal abundance. For water-methanol solutions we find evidence of incomplete mixing at the microscopic level. Our results provide a new explanation for a smaller entropy increase in the solution due to water molecules bridging methanol chains to form rings.
Guo
J-H
JH
Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. jguo@lbl.gov
Luo
Y
Y
Augustsson
A
A
Kashtanov
S
S
Rubensson
J-E
JE
Shuh
D K
DK
Agren
H
H
Nordgren
J
J