Far-infrared absorption intensities of H2O and D2O in C6H6

Far-i.r. absorption intensities have been measured for H₂O and D₂O in C₆H₆ solutions. Beer's law plots were found to be nonlinear. From the plots, the equilibrium constants of dimer formation in benzene were estimated to be 2.4M^-1 and 3.3M^-1 for H₂O and D₂O at 20°C, respectively. Based on Onsager's reaction field and including explicitly the effect of differences in molecular size between solute and solvent molecules, the internal moment of a water molecule and the volume ratio of a molecule to a cavity were estimated from the integrated absorption intensity of a D₂O monomer in C₆H₆ as 1.98 D and 0.7, respectively