Diluent Effects on the Debye-Type Dielectric Relaxation in Viscous Monohydroxy Alcohols

Phenol, the simplest aromatic monohydroxy alcohol, displays a faint Debye-like process when mixed with a nonassociating liquid

Solvated in propylene carbonate, viscous phenol is studied using dielectric spectroscopy and shear rheology. In addition, several oxygen-17 and deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques are applied to specifically isotope labeled equimolar mixtures. Quantum chemical calculations are used to check the electrical field gradient at phenol's oxygen site. The chosen combination of NMR methods facilitates the selective examination of potentially hydrogen-bond related contributions as well as those dominated by the structural relaxation. Taken together the present results for phenol in equimolar mixtures with the van der Waals liquid propylene carbonate provide evidence for the existence of a very weak Debye-like process that originates from ringlike supramolecular associates.

Unusual Debye relaxation in 4-methyl-2-pentanol evidenced by high-pressure dielectric studies

The Debye relaxation is the main signal in the dielectric measurements of monoalcohols arising from the hydrogen-bonded superstructures, but its physics remains to be cleared. In this work, a monoalcohol of 4-methyl-2-pentanol is studied using dielectric spectroscopies recorded at high pressures. The dynamic parameters of the Debye and structural relaxations are extracted. The calculation of the Kirkwood factor of the Debye relaxation indicates chain-like H-bond molecular configurations. Remarkably, we found that both ratios of the relaxation strength and relaxation time between the Debye and structural dynamics, Δε _D/Δε _α and τ _D/τ _α , decreases upon compression, indicating a positive correlation. This is different from the results reported in primary 2-ethyl-1-hexanol and secondary 4-methyl-3-heptanol, where the two ratios are inversely correlated. The discussion and interpretation of these different results are provided.

Electrical Conductivity and Viscosity in Binary Organic Liquid Mixtures: Participation of Molecular Interactions and Nanodomains

The present work aims to shed light on recent literature reports suggesting that ionic species are implicated in the electrical conductivity of 1-octanol and its mixtures with hydrocarbons. Other workers have questioned this interpretation, and herein, based on new experimentation and with reference to various literature studies, we consider that molecular interactions are more likely to be responsible. To investigate this, we have studied mixtures of 1-octanol and either silicone oil (SO) or n-dodecane as nonpolar components, using dielectric (in particular electrical conductivity) and viscometric measurements. With reference to the literature, the self-association of alcohols is known to create microheterogeneity in the neat liquids and in mixtures with nonpolar, low dielectric constant liquids, and it has previously been considered to be responsible for the particular solvent properties of alcohols. The present results suggest that the electrical conductivity of alkane/alcohol systems may have similar origins, with percolating pathways formed from octanol-rich nanodomains comprising polar regions containing hydrogen-bonded hydroxyl groups and nonpolar regions dominated by alkyl chains. The percolation threshold found for dodecane/octanol mixtures, in which interactions between the component molecules are found from viscosity measurements to be repulsive, agrees well with results from experimental and theoretical studies of disordered arrangements of packed spheres, and moreover, it is consistent with other published alkane/alcohol results. On the other hand, the situation is more complex for SO/octanol mixtures, in which interactions between the two components are attractive, based on viscosity data, and in which the phase separation of SO occurs at high octanol concentrations. Overall, we have concluded that electrical conductivity in octanol (and potentially all liquid alcohols) and its mixtures with nonpolar molecules, such as alkanes, is consistent with the presence of conducting networks comprising octanol-rich nanodomains formed by self-association, and not as a result of ionic conduction.

Model for the alpha and beta shear-mechanical properties of supercooled liquids and its comparison to squalane data

This paper presents data for supercooled squalane's frequency-dependent shear modulus covering frequencies from 10 mHz to 30 kHz and temperatures from 168 K to 190 K; measurements are also reported for the glass phase down to 146 K. The data reveal a strong mechanical beta process. A model is proposed for the shear response of the metastable equilibrium liquid phase of supercooled liquids. The model is an electrical equivalent-circuit characterized by additivity of the dynamic shear compliances of the alpha and beta processes. The nontrivial parts of the alpha and beta processes are each represented by a "Cole-Cole retardation element" defined as a series connection of a capacitor and a constant-phase element, resulting in the Cole-Cole compliance function well-known from dielectrics. The model, which assumes that the high-frequency decay of the alpha shear compliance loss varies with the angular frequency as ω^-1/2, has seven parameters. Assuming time-temperature superposition for the alpha and beta processes separately, the number of parameters varying with temperature is reduced to four. The model provides a better fit to the data than an equally parametrized Havriliak-Negami type model. From the temperature dependence of the best-fit model parameters, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) the alpha relaxation time conforms to the shoving model; (2) the beta relaxation loss-peak frequency is almost temperature independent; (3) the alpha compliance magnitude, which in the model equals the inverse of the instantaneous shear modulus, is only weakly temperature dependent; (4) the beta compliance magnitude decreases by a factor of three upon cooling in the temperature range studied. The final part of the paper briefly presents measurements of the dynamic adiabatic bulk modulus covering frequencies from 10 mHz to 10 kHz in the temperature range from 172 K to 200 K. The data are qualitatively similar to the shear modulus data by having a significant beta process. A single-order-parameter framework is suggested to rationalize these similarities.

A comparative study of ibuprofen and ketoprofen glass-forming liquids by molecular dynamics simulations

In this paper, structural and dynamical properties of ibuprofen and ketoprofen glass-forming liquids have been investigated by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Molecular mobility of both materials is analyzed with respect to the different inter-molecular linear/cyclic hydrogen bonding associations. For ibuprofen, the dominant organization is found to be composed of small hydrogen bonding aggregates corresponding to cyclic dimers through the carboxyl group. For ketoprofen, the propensity of cyclic dimers is significantly reduced by the formation of hydrogen bonds with the ketone oxygen of the molecule altering the hydrogen bond (HB) associating structures that can be formed and thus molecular dynamics. The issue of the presence/absence of the peculiar low frequency Debye-type process in dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) data in these materials is addressed. Results obtained from simulations confirm that the Debye process originates from the internal cis-trans conversion of the -COOH carboxyl group. It is shown that the specific intermolecular HB structures associated to a given profen control the main dynamical features of this conversion, in particular its separation from the α-process, which make it detectable or not from DRS. For ibuprofen, the possible role of the -CCCO torsion motion, more "local" than the -COOH motion since it is less influenced by the intermolecular HBs, is suggested in the microscopic origin of the quite intense secondary γ-relaxation process detected from DRS.

Supramolecular x-ray signature of susceptibility amplification in hydrogen-bonded liquids

Mixing two nonconducting hydrogen-bonded liquids, each exhibiting a low dielectric relaxation strength, can result in a highly electrically absorbing fluid. This susceptibility amplification effect is demonstrated for mixtures of monohydroxy alcohols. Whereas in the pure liquids a tendency to form ringlike low-dipole moment clusters prevails, in the mixtures such supramolecular structures are disfavored leading to an up to tenfold enhancement of the dielectric loss. The compositional evolution of density and mean cluster-cluster separation is traced using x-ray scattering and indicates deviations from ideal mixing with decreased C-C but simultaneously increased O-O correlation lengths. Thus, the variation in the supramolecular absorption strength could be tracked using a static scattering technique. These observations are in harmony with volume exclusion and ring open effects that predict an optimized susceptibility amplification for mixtures in which the two components occupy equal volume fractions as experimentally observed.

Changes in mobility of plastic crystal ethanol during its transformation into the monoclinic crystal state

Transformation of deuterated ethanol from the plastic crystal phase into the monoclinic one is investigated by means of a singular setup combining simultaneously dielectric spectroscopy with neutron diffraction. We postulate that a dynamic transition from plastic crystal to supercooled liquid-like configuration through a deep reorganization of the hydrogen-bonding network must take place as a previous step of the crystallization process. Once these precursor regions are formed, subsequent crystalline nucleation and growth develop with time.

Detection of early stage precursor during formation of plastic crystal ethanol from the supercooled liquid state: a simultaneous dielectric spectroscopy with neutron diffraction study

Transformation of deuterated ethanol from supercooled liquid into a plastic crystal or rotator phase is investigated by means of a particular experimental setup combining simultaneously dielectric spectroscopy with neutron diffraction techniques. We demonstrate that, previous to the growth of the bcc lattice of the plastic crystal phase, the formation of a precursor or intermediate phase through a liquid-liquid phase separation takes place. Once this precursor phase is formed, subsequent (plastic) crystalline nucleation and growth is expected to develop.

Solidity of viscous liquids. V. Long-wavelength dominance of the dynamics

This paper is the fifth in a series exploring the physical consequences of the solidity of highly viscous liquids. Paper IV proposed a model where the density field is described by a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation of the nonconserved type with rates in k space of the form Gamma0+Dk2. If a is the average intermolecular distance, the model assumes that DGamma0a2. This inequality expresses a long-wavelength dominance of the dynamics, which implies that the Hamiltonian (free energy) to a good approximation may be taken to be ultralocal, i.e., with the property that equal-time field fluctuations are uncorrelated in space. Paper IV also briefly discussed how to generalize the model by including the molecular orientational fields, the stress tensor fields, and the potential energy density field. In the present paper it is argued that this is the simplest model consistent with the following three experimental facts: (1) Viscous liquids approaching the glass transition do not develop long-range order; (2) the glass has lower compressibility than the liquid; (3) the alpha process involves several decades of relaxation times shorter than the mean relaxation time. The paper proceeds to list six further experimental facts of viscous liquid dynamics and shows that these follow naturally from the model.

Dielectric relaxation and crystallization of nanophase separated 1-propanol-isoamylbromide mixture

The effects of liquid-liquid phase separation on molecular relaxation of an apparently homogeneous mixture of 1-propanol and isoamylbromide has been studied by dielectric spectroscopy over a broad frequency and temperature range, and its crystallization kinetics investigated in real time. The mixture shows two widely separated relaxation processes, as before, with the faster relaxation due to the orientational diffusion of isoamylbromide and the slower due to that of 1-propanol. In the mixture, the scaled contribution to permittivity from orientation polarization, Deltaepsilon, of isoamylbromide is about the same as in the pure state, but that of 1-propanol decreases by a factor of approximately 3 at 120 K. As the temperature is decreased, this difference remains constant. The relaxation time, tau, of isoamylbromide and its distribution parameter remains the same as for the pure liquid, but that of 1-propanol is longer and increases with decrease in T, becoming approximately 130 times the pure liquid's value at 119 K. This is in contrast to the finding for an isomeric heptanol, whose tau had decreased. Extrapolation suggests that at T>151 K, tau of 1-propanol in the mixture may become less than that in the pure liquid (the isoamylbromide component crystallizes before this temperature could be reached). This indicates that Tg corresponding to tau of 10(3) s for 1-propanol in the mixture would be higher than in the pure liquid. Crystallization of the two components in the mixture occurs at different rates and 1-propanol remains partially uncrystallized while isoamylbromide completely crystallizes. tau of any remaining liquid isoamylbromide does not change in the presence of crystallized states while tau of residual liquid 1-propanol in the mixture is reduced. The mixture phase separates in submicron or nanosize aggregates of the alcohol in isoamylbromide, without affecting the latter's relaxation kinetics, while its own epsilon(s) decreases and tau increases. Consequences of the finding for various relaxation mechanisms are briefly described.

Comparing calorimetric and dielectric polarization modes in viscous 2-ethyl-1-hexanol

Dielectric relaxation and dynamic heat capacity measurements are compared for 2-ethyl-1-hexanol near its glass transition temperature Tg in order to further clarify the origin of the prominent Debye-type loss peak observed in many monohydroxy alcohols and other hydrogen-bonding liquids. While the dielectric spectrum epsilon" displays two distinct polarization processes that are separated by a factor of 2000 in terms of the peak frequency, the heat capacity cp" shows only a single peak. The dielectric process with lower amplitude and higher peak frequency coincides with the calorimetric signal, whereas the large dielectric Debye signal is not associated with calorimetric modes. The authors conclude that the Debye process corresponds to a transition among states which differ in energy only in the case of an external electric field.

Relaxations and nano-phase-separation in ultraviscous heptanol-alkyl halide mixture

To gain insight into the effects of liquid-liquid phase separation on molecular relaxation behavior we have studied an apparently homogeneous mixture of 5-methyl-2-hexanol and isoamylbromide by dielectric spectroscopy over a broad temperature range. It shows two relaxation regions, widely separated in frequency and temperature, with the low-frequency relaxation due to the alcohol and the high-frequency relaxation due to the halide. In the mixture, the equilibrium dielectric permittivity epsilon(s) of the alcohol is 41% of the pure state at 155.7 K and epsilon(s) of isoamylbromide is approximately 86% of the pure state at 128.7 K. The difference decreases for the alcohol component with decreasing temperature and increases for the isoamylbromide component. The relaxation time tau of 5-methyl-2-hexanol in the mixture at 155.7 K is over five orders of magnitude less than in the pure state, and this difference increases with decreasing temperature, but tau of isoamylbromide in the mixture is marginally higher than in the pure liquid. This shows that the mixture would have two T(g)'s corresponding to its tau of 10(3) s, with values of approximately 121 K for its 5-methyl-2-hexanol component and approximately 108 K for its isoamylbromide component. It is concluded that the mixture phase separates in submicron or nanometer-size aggregates of the alcohol in isoamylbromide, without affecting the latter's relaxation kinetics, while its own epsilon(s) and tau decrease markedly.