Measurement of two solvation regimes in water-ethanol mixtures using x-ray compton scattering

Water-ethanol mixtures exhibit interesting anomalies in their macroscopic properties. Despite a lot of research, the origin of the anomalies and the microscopic structure itself is still far from completely known. We have utilized the synchrotron x-ray Compton scattering technique to elucidate the s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2011-10, Vol.107 (19), p.197401-197401, Article 197401
Main Authors: Juurinen, I, Nakahara, K, Ando, N, Nishiumi, T, Seta, H, Yoshida, N, Morinaga, T, Itou, M, Ninomiya, T, Sakurai, Y, Salonen, E, Nordlund, K, Hämäläinen, K, Hakala, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ethanol - chemistry
Models, Chemical
Molecular Structure
Scattering, Radiation
Solutions - chemistry
Water - chemistry
X-Ray Diffraction
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Summary:Water-ethanol mixtures exhibit interesting anomalies in their macroscopic properties. Despite a lot of research, the origin of the anomalies and the microscopic structure itself is still far from completely known. We have utilized the synchrotron x-ray Compton scattering technique to elucidate the structure of aqueous ethanol from a new experimental perspective. The technique is uniquely sensitive to the local molecular geometries at the angstrom and subangstrom scales. The experiments reveal two distinct mixing regimes in terms of geometry: the dilute 5 mol % and the concentrated >15 mol % regimes. By comparing with pure liquids, the former regime is characterized by an intramolecular and the latter by an intermolecular change. The findings bring new light to evaluating the hypothesis of formation of clathratelike structures at the dilute concentrations.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.107.197401