Studies on the structure of water using two-dimensional near-infrared correlation spectroscopy and principal component analysis.

The structure of water molecules in the pure liquid state has been subjected to extensive research for several decades. Questions still remain unanswered, however, and no single model has been found capable of explaining all the anomalies of water. In the present study, near-infrared spectra of water in the temperature region 6-80 degrees C have been analyzed by use of principal component analysis and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy in order to study the dynamic behavior of a band centered around 1,450 nm at room temperature, which is due to the combination of symmetric and antisymmetric O-H stretching modes (first overtone) of water. It has been found that the wavelengths 1,412 and 1,491 nm account for more than 99% of the spectral variation, representing two major water species with weaker and stronger hydrogen bonds, respectively. A third species located at 1438 nm, whose concentration was relatively constant as a function of temperature, is also indicated. A somewhat distorted two-state structural model for water is suggested.