Hydrogen bonding in aqueous solution of NaClO4

The ternary system NaClO₄–H₂O–D₂O has been studied, using the Raman spectroscopy. Analysis of the uncoupled OD band of HDO clearly shows that the contour of the band consists of two components only. A new approach has been developed for the quantitative evaluation of the mole fraction of bonded OD groups as a function of perchlorate concentration. It is practically impossible to measure the absolute intensity of Raman scattering. Nevertheless, it is feasible to obtain the specific coefficients of scattering per bonded OD group from the ratio of integrated intensities of the components. For this purpose, the concept of negative ‘phantom’ concentration was introduced, at which all the OD groups must be bonded. As a result, the concentration dependence of the mole fraction of bonded OD groups has been derived. It was found that the infinite network of hydrogen bonds in bulk water ceases to exist at a mole fraction of NaClO₄ above ～0.03–0.035. At higher concentration of perchlorate only residual finite clusters of water molecules can take place. However, the infinite percolation in the system remains. The important fact resulting from the data treatment is that the average number of hydrogen bonds per water molecule in pure water is 2.6?±?0.2.