| Abstract: | Spectroscopic investigations and light scattering experiments with saturated, liquid hydrocarbons and their mixtures indicate a specific and distinct influence of the constitution, conformation, and flexibility of the molecule on the structure and macroscopic behavior of such liquids. Orientational order present in pure liquid n-alkanes, for example, characteristically affects the thermodynamic mixing properties, such as the enthalpy of mixing ΔHM and the entropy of mixing ΔSM , when these liquids are mixed with each other, or with other liquids. Nowadays it is possible to determine thermodynamic mixing properties experimentally with such precision that systematic investigations of these properties allow the behavior of liquids to be studied qualitatively and–with molecular theories of liquids–to some extent also quantitatively. The latest results in this respect, exemplified by mixtures of alkanes, are discussed. These results not only demonstrate the progress made in understanding the relations between molecular (microscopic) and macroscopic properties, but are also of importance for industrial applications (e.g. separation processes) in which mixtures of hydrocarbons are involved. |
