Magneto-optical Rotation Studies of the Structural Properties of Liquid Mixtures Part 1.—Binary Mixtures of Alcohols, Carboxylic Acids. Ethers and Acetone with Water

Abstract

Measurements have been made of the magneto-optical rotation at 435.8 nm of binary mixtures of water with methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, iso-propanol, t-butanol, ethylene glycol, acetone, dioxan, tetrahydrofuran, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, chloracetic acid, dichloracetic acid and trichloracetic acid. By treating the magnetic rotation as an extensive property it was possible to express the departure from ideality of the solutions in terms of the excess magnetic rotation, αE. The variation of αE with the composition of the liquid for each binary system is discussed in terms of the structural properties of the liquid mixtures. Some systems show signs of structure-breaking and others show structure-making, while in some cases the results suggest the presence of specific molecular interaction.