STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF SOLUTE-SOLUTE INTERACTIONS IN AQUEOUS-SOLUTIONS OF TERTIARY BUTANOL

Hydrogen/deuterium isotopic substitution neutron diffraction technique s have been used to measure the solute-solute intermolecular structura l correlations in 0.06, 0.11, and 0.16 mole fraction tertiary butanol- water solutions. Empirical potential structure refinement (EPSR) proce dures have been used to extract detailed information relating to the i ntermolecular structure in these systems. A trend from hydrophobic to hydrophilic character of the solute-solute correlations as a function of solute concentration is observed. Of particular note is the dominat ion of nonpolar to nonpolar solute contacts at 0.06 mole fraction conc entration compared with a more complex mixture of nonpolar and polar s olute-solute intermolecular contact configurations at the higher alcoh ol concentration.