Dynamic signature of molecular association in methanol

Dynamics of molecular associates in methanol/water mixtures

The dynamics of molecular associates in a methanol/water mixture was investigated using quasielastic neutron scattering. By measuring the signal from four methanol/water samples differing only by their isotopic composition, the relative motion of the water to methanol molecules, i.e. their mutual dynamics, was determined at the nanoscale. The thus obtained nanoscopic mutual diffusion coefficient signals a significantly slower process than the single particle diffusion of either methanol or water in the system as well as their macroscopic mutual diffusion. The data do not provide any indication of microsegregation in this preeminent alcohol/water mixture; however, they do indicate the existence of long lived but dynamic molecular associates of water and methanol molecules. Analysis of the structural relaxation shows that the lifetime of molecular association through hydrogen bonding determines the fact that viscosity of the mixtures at intermediate concentrations is higher than that of both pure components.

Unraveling the coherent dynamic structure factor of liquid water at the mesoscale by molecular dynamics simulations

We present an investigation by molecular dynamics (MD)-simulations of the coherent dynamic structure factor, S(Q, t) (Q: momentum transfer), of liquid water at the mesoscale (0.1 Å^-1 ≤ Q ≤ Q_max) [Q_max ≈ 2 Å^-1: Q-value of the first maximum of the static structure factor, S(Q), of water]. The simulation cell-large enough to address the collective properties at the mesoscale-is validated by direct comparison with recent results on the dynamic structure factor in the frequency domain obtained by neutron spectroscopy with polarization analysis [Arbe et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 022015 (2020)]. We have not only focused on the acoustic excitations but also on the relaxational contributions to S(Q, t). The analysis of the MD-simulation results-including the self- and distinct contributions to the diffusive part of S(Q, t)-nicely explains why the relaxation process hardly depends on Q in the low Q-range (Q ≤ 0.4 Å^-1) and how it crosses over to a diffusion-driven process at Q ≈ Q_max. Our simulations also give support to the main assumptions of the model used to fit the experimental data in the above mentioned paper. The application of such a model to the simulation S(Q, t) data delivers (i) results for the relaxation component of S(Q, t) in agreement with those obtained from neutron experiments and (ii) longitudinal and transverse hydrodynamic-like components with similar features than those identified in previous simulations of the longitudinal and transverse current spectra directly. On the other hand, in general, our MD-simulations results of S(Q, t) qualitatively agree with the viscoelastic transition framework habitually used to describe inelastic x-ray scattering results.

Relevance of hydrogen bonded associates to the transport properties and nanoscale dynamics of liquid and supercooled 2-propanol

2-Propanol was investigated, in both the liquid and supercooled states, as a model system to study how hydrogen bonds affect the structural relaxation and the dynamics of mesoscale structures, of approximately several Ångstroms, employing static and quasi-elastic neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulation. Dynamic neutron scattering measurements were performed over an exchanged wave-vector range encompassing the pre-peak, indicative of the presence of H-bonding associates, and the main peak. The dynamics observed at the pre-peak is associated with the formation and disaggregation of the H-bonded associates and is measured to be at least one order of magnitude slower than the dynamics at the main peak, which is identified as the structural relaxation. The measurements indicate that the macroscopic shear viscosity has a similar temperature dependence as the dynamics of the H-bonded associates, which highlights the important role played by these structures, together with the structural relaxation, in defining the macroscopic rheological properties of the system. Importantly, the characteristic relaxation time at the pre-peak follows an Arrhenius temperature dependence whereas at the main peak it exhibits a non-Arrhenius behavior on approaching the supercooled state. The origin of this differing behavior is attributed to an increased structuring of the hydrophobic domains of 2-propanol accommodating a more and more encompassing H-bond network, and a consequent set in of dynamic cooperativity.

Influence of Kosmotrope and Chaotrope Salts on Water Structural Relaxation

The structural relaxation in water solutions of kosmotrope (structure maker) and chaotrope (structure breaker) salts, namely sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and cesium chloride, were studied through quasielastic neutron scattering measurements. We found that the collective dynamics relaxation time at the structure factor peak obtained using heavy water solutions shows a distinctively different behavior in the kosmotrope as opposed to the chaotrope solutions, increasing with the salt concentration in the former and decreasing in the latter. In both cases the trends are proportional to the concentration dependence of the relative viscosity of the solutions. These results indicate that kosmotropes and chaotropes influence the solution's viscosity by impacting in opposite ways the hydrogen bond network of water, strengthening it in one case and softening it in the other.

Coupling between Structural and Dielectric Relaxations of Methanol and Ethanol Studied by Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The microscopic origin of the fast dielectric relaxation modes and the integrated dielectric relaxation times of methanol and ethanol was investigated by means of cross-correlation analysis of molecular dynamics simulation. Random force on the fluctuation of collective dipole moment was correlated with the two-body density mode in both real and reciprocal spaces. A strong coupling was observed with the OH alternation mode at 30 nm^-1, suggesting that alternating switching of the hydrogen bond within a hydrogen-bonding chain is the principal origin of the retarded friction on the collective dipole moment. The relaxation of the coupling was much slower than that of the partial intermediate scattering functions at the corresponding wavenumber, which suggests the breakdown of the factorization approximation employed in the mode-coupling theory. Although the prepeak structure is strongly coupled to the viscoelastic relaxation, its coupling with the dielectric relaxation is relatively weak. The difference between the viscoelastic and the dielectric relaxations was discussed in terms of the different symmetries of the shear stress tensor and the collective dipole moment.

Analysis of shear viscosity and viscoelastic relaxation of liquid methanol based on molecular dynamics simulation and mode-coupling theory

The role of the prepeak structure of liquid methanol in determining its shear viscosity was studied by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and mode-coupling theory (MCT). The autocorrelation function of the shear stress and the intermediate scattering functions at both the prepeak and the main peak were calculated from the MD trajectories. Their comparison based on MCT suggests that the viscoelastic relaxation in the ps regime is affected by the slow structural dynamics at the prepeak. On the other hand, the MCT for molecular liquids based on the interaction-site model (site-site MCT) fails to describe the coupling between the prepeak dynamics and shear stress. The direct evaluation of the coupling between the two-body density and the shear stress reveals that the viscoelastic relaxation is actually affected by the prepeak dynamics, although the coupling is not captured by the site-site MCT. The site-site MCT works well for a model methanol without partial charges, suggesting that the failure of the site-site MCT originates from the existence of a hydrogen-bonding network structure.

The Nature of the Dielectric Response of Methanol Revealed by the Terahertz Kerr Effect

The dielectric response of liquids in the terahertz (THz) and sub-THz frequency range arises from low-energy collective molecular motions, which are often strongly influenced by intermolecular interactions. To shed light on the microscopic origin of the THz dielectric response of the simplest alcohol, methanol, we resonantly excite this liquid with an intense THz electric-field pulse and monitor the relaxation of the induced optical birefringence. We find a unipolar THz-Kerr-effect signal which, in contrast to aprotic polar liquids, shows a weak coupling between the THz electric field and the permanent molecular dipole moment of the liquid. We assign this weak coupling to the restricted translational rather than rotational nature of the excited mode. Our approach opens a new avenue to the assignment of the dielectric spectrum of liquids to a microscopic origin.

Switching off hydrogen-bond-driven excitation modes in liquid methanol

Hydrogen bonding plays an essential role on intermolecular forces, and consequently on the thermodynamics of materials defined by this elusive bonding character. It determines the property of a vital liquid as water as well as many processes crucial for life. The longstanding controversy on the nature of the hydrogen bond (HB) can be settled by looking at the effect of a vanishing HB interaction on the microscopic properties of a given hydrogen-bonded fluid. This task suits the capabilities of computer simulations techniques, which allow to easily switch off HB interactions. We then use molecular dynamics to study the microscopic properties of methanol, a prototypical HB liquid. Fundamental aspects of the dynamics of methanol at room temperature were contextualised only very recently and its rich dynamics was found to have striking analogies with that of water. The lower temperature (200 K) considered in the present study led us to observe that the molecular centre-of-mass dynamics is dominated by four modes. Most importantly, the computational ability to switch on and off hydrogen bonds permitted us to identify which, among these modes, have a pure HB-origin. This clarifies the role of hydrogen bonds in liquid dynamics, disclosing new research opportunities and unexplored interpretation schemes.

Nanoscopic length scale dependence of hydrogen bonded molecular associates' dynamics in methanol

In a recent paper [C. E. Bertrand et al., J. Chem. Phys. 145, 014502 (2016)], we have shown that the collective dynamics of methanol shows a fast relaxation process related to the standard density-fluctuation heat mode and a slow non-Fickian mode originating from the hydrogen bonded molecular associates. Here we report on the length scale dependence of this slow relaxation process. Using quasielastic neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the dynamics of the slow process is affected by the structuring of the associates, which is accessible through polarized neutron diffraction experiments. Using a series of partially deuterated samples, the dynamics of the associates is investigated and is found to have a similar time scale to the lifetime of hydrogen bonding in the system. Both the structural relaxation and the dynamics of the associates are thermally activated by the breaking of hydrogen bonding.

The hydrogen-bond collective dynamics in liquid methanol

The relatively simple molecular structure of hydrogen-bonded (HB) systems is often belied by their exceptionally complex thermodynamic and microscopic behaviour. For this reason, after a thorough experimental, computational and theoretical scrutiny, the dynamics of molecules in HB systems still eludes a comprehensive understanding. Aiming at shedding some insight into this topic, we jointly used neutron Brillouin scattering and molecular dynamics simulations to probe the dynamics of a prototypical hydrogen-bonded alcohol, liquid methanol. The comparison with the most thoroughly investigated HB system, liquid water, pinpoints common behaviours of their THz microscopic dynamics, thereby providing additional information on the role of HB dynamics in these two systems. This study demonstrates that the dynamic behaviour of methanol is much richer than what so far known, and prompts us to establish striking analogies with the features of liquid and supercooled water. In particular, based on the strong differences between the structural properties of the two systems, our results suggest that the assignment of some dynamical properties to the tetrahedral character of water structure should be questioned. We finally highlight the similarities between the characteristic decay times of the time correlation function, as obtained from our data and the mean lifetime of hydrogen bond known in literature.