Quantitative information about the hydrogen bond strength in dilute aqueous solutions of methanol from the temperature dependence of the Raman spectra of the decoupled OD stretch.

We have obtained quantitative information about the hydrogen bond strength in pure water and in dilute aqueous solutions of methanol by analyzing the temperature dependence of Raman spectra of the decoupled OD stretch from 21 to 160 degrees C with the hydrogen bond energy dispersion method. A minimum at 2440 cm(-1) assigned to strong icelike hydrogen bonds and a maximum at 2650 cm(-1) due to maximally (but not completely) broken hydrogen bonds result in all cases. The energy of the minimum decreases upon addition of methanol due to formation of stronger water-methanol hydrogen bonds, whereas the energy of the maximum increases because water hydrogen atoms in the vicinity of the methyl group might participate in "more broken" hydrogen bonds than in bulk water.