Single-particle dynamics in dimethyl-sulfoxide/water eutectic mixture by neutron scattering

We study water and dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO) dynamics in the eutectic DMSO/ water mixture, 2H(2)O:1DMSO, by incoherent quasielastic and inelastic neutr on scattering. A temperature range from room down to -27 degreesC is invest igated. Both water and DMSO translational dynamics are significantly slowed in the mixture compared to pure liquids. They exhibit different diffusion dynamics, pointing to the absence of stable hydrogen bonded complexes. Furt her, the presence of a solute suppresses the dynamic anomalies of water: se lf-diffusion coefficients for water in the mixture, as well as residence ti mes for jump diffusion reveal an Arrhenius temperature dependence, in contr ast to the strong non-Arrhenius behavior in pure water. The density of vibr ational states shows a shift of the characteristic librational peak in pure water towards higher energies in the mixture, reflecting hindrance of larg e amplitude proton motions. These results are compatible with computer simu lations which predict longer hydrogen-bond lifetimes in the mixture, compar ed to pure water. However, rotational relaxation times for water protons in the mixture are estimated to be similar to1 ps, as for pure water. This ex perimental finding suggests that unlike in pure, low temperature water, pro ton librations should no longer be the main mechanism responsible for hydro gen-bond breaking in the mixture. Thus, the correspondence between the prot on hindered rotational relaxation time and the "hydrogen-bond lifetime" sho uld not apply in DMSO-water mixtures. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physic s. [S0021-9606(00)51242-2].