Hydrogen bonded clusters of alcohol molecules in inert solvents: a chain statistics approach

A theory is proposed for modeling the autoassociation of alcohol molecules either in the neat liquid or in inert (non-complexing) solvents. This autoassociation by hydrogen bonds takes the form of clusters which can be predominantly open or cyclized chains, depending on the concentration. Chain conformation statistics are used for calculating the dipole moment of each type of chain. Cyclization equilibrium theory is employed for obtaining formulae for the fraction of all types of clusters. The total Kirkwood angular correlation factorg is calculated in function of the concentration. For this only two parameters are used; the first one is a common equilibrium constant for H bond dissociation; the second one is closely linked to the stiffness of the chains. A numerical illustration is presented for the case of normal hexanol in various aliphatic solvents, for which several dielectric data exist in the literature.