Liquid monohydroxy alcohols exhibit unusual dynamics related to their hydrogen bonding induced structures. The connection between structure and dynamics is studied for liquid 1-propanol using quasi-elastic neutron scattering, combining time-of-flight and neutron spin-echo techniques, with a focus on the dynamics at length scales corresponding to the main peak and the pre-peak of the structure factor. At the main peak, the structural relaxation times are probed. These correspond well to mechanical relaxation times calculated from literature data. At the pre-peak, corresponding to length scales related to H-bonded structures, the relaxation times are almost an order of magnitude longer. According to previous work [C. Gainaru, R. Meier, S. Schildmann, C. Lederle, W. Hiller, E. Rössler, and R. Böhmer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 258303 (2010)] this time scale difference is connected to the average size of H-bonded clusters. The relation between the relaxation times from neutron scattering and those determined from dielectric spectroscopy is discussed on the basis of broad-band permittivity data of 1-propanol. Moreover, in 1-propanol the dielectric relaxation strength as well as the near-infrared absorbance reveal anomalous behavior below ambient temperature. A corresponding feature could not be found in the polyalcohols propylene glycol and glycerol.
1-Propanol/chemistry , Dielectric Spectroscopy , Neutron Diffraction , Scattering, Small Angle , Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
The relatively small dielectric Debye-like process of the monohydroxy alcohol 4-methyl-3-heptanol (4M3H) was found to depend slightly on the intramolecular conformation. Proton and deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance demonstrate that the hydroxyl dynamics and the overall molecular dynamics take place on similar time scales in contrast to the situation for the structural isomer 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (2E1H) [S. Schildmann et al., J. Chem. Phys. 135, 174511 (2011)]. This indicates a very weak decoupling of Debye-like and structural relaxation which was further probed using volume expansivity experiments. Shear viscosity as well as diffusometry measurements were performed and the data were analyzed in terms of the Debye-Stokes-Einstein equations. In mixtures of 4M3H with 2E1H the Debye-like process becomes much stronger and for 2E1H mole fraction of more than 25% the behavior of this alcohol is rapidly approached. This finding is interpreted to indicate that the ring-like supramolecular structures in 4M3H become energetically unfavorable when adding 2E1H, an alcohol that tends to form chain-like molecular aggregates. The concentration dependence of the Kirkwood factor in these mixtures displays a high degree of similarity with experimental results on monohydroxy alcohols in which the pressure or the location of the OH group within the molecular structure is varied.
Using deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance and dielectric spectroscopy KOH doped tetrahydrofuran clathrate hydrates and KOH doped hexagonal ice are studied at temperatures above 60 and 72 K, respectively. Below these temperatures proton order is established on the lattice formed by the water molecules. In the clathrate hydrate a new type of small-angle motion is discovered using deuteron spin-spin relaxation, line-shape analysis, and stimulated-echo experiments. Based on the latter results a model is developed for the local proton motion that could successfully be tested using random-walk simulations. It is argued that the newly identified small-angle motion, obviously absent in undoped samples, is an important feature of the mechanism which accompanies the establishment of proton order not only in doped clathrate hydrates but also in doped hexagonal ice. Specific motions of OH(-) defects are demonstrated to explain the experimentally observed behavior. The relative importance of localized versus delocalized OH(-) defect motions is discussed.
Furans/chemistry , Hydroxides/chemistry , Ice , Potassium Compounds/chemistry , Water/chemistry , Models, Molecular , Temperature
The spectral densities related to various relaxation processes of the glass former 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (2E1H), a monohydroxy alcohol, are probed using several nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments as well as via dielectric noise spectroscopy (DNS). On the basis of the spectral density relating to voltage fluctuations, i.e., without the application of external electrical fields, DNS enables the detection of the structural relaxation and of the prominent, about two decades slower Debye process. The NMR-detected spectral density, sensitive to the orientational fluctuations of the hydroxyl deuteron, also reveals dynamics slower than the structural relaxation, but not as slow as the Debye process. Rotational and translational correlation functions of 2E1H are probed using stimulated-echo NMR techniques which could only resolve the structural dynamics or faster processes. The experimental results are discussed with reference to models that were suggested to describe the dynamics in supercooled alcohols.
Dielectric loss spectra covering 13 decades in frequency were collected for 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, a monohydroxy alcohol that exhibits a prominent Debye-like relaxation, typical for several classes of hydrogen-bonded liquids. The thermal variation of the dielectric absorption amplitude agrees well with that of the hydrogen-bond equilibrium population, experimentally mapped out using near infrared (NIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. Despite this agreement, temperature-jump NIR spectroscopy reveals that the hydrogen-bond switching rate does not define the frequency position of the prominent absorption peak. This contrasts with widespread notions and models based thereon, but is consistent with a recent approach.
Monohydroxy alcohols show a structural relaxation and at longer time scales a Debye-type dielectric peak. From spin-lattice relaxation experiments using different nuclear probes, an intermediate, slower-than-structural dynamics is identified for n-butanol. Based on these findings and on translational diffusion measurements, a model of self-restructuring, transient chains is proposed. The model is demonstrated to explain consistently the so-far puzzling observations made for this class of hydrogen-bonded glass forming liquids.
Deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and dielectric spectroscopy are utilized to investigate the dynamics of the water molecules in the semiclathrate (tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide) 26 H(2)O. Stimulated-echo spectroscopy reveals a nonexponential correlation function predominantly due to rotational motion with jump angles that are broadly distributed around the tetrahedral angle. The reorientational correlation times from this technique agree excellently with those from dielectric measurements, both resulting in an activation energy of (43+/-1) kJ/mol. Large, spatially varying electrical dipolar fields, set up by the Br(-) and the N(+) ions located on the hydrate lattice, are held responsible for the pronounced stretching of the correlation functions. Solid-echo spectra were acquired over a broad temperature range. They exhibit an apparent two-phase character discussed in terms of various scenarios. Two-dimensional NMR spectra and four-time stimulated echoes were recorded, but an exchange of slow and fast subensembles could not be detected. Spin-lattice relaxation does not directly reflect the local reorientational motion and its nonexponentiality is interpreted with reference to the translational dynamics of the water molecules.
