Debye process and dielectric state of an alcohol in a nonpolar solvent.

Abstract

To investigate the origin of the first order molecular kinetics of the most prominent, Debye-type polarization, a detailed dielectric relaxation study of 66.5, 40, and 20 mole solutions of 5-methyl-2-hexanol in 2-methylpentane (2:1, 0.67:1, and 0.25:1 molar ratios) was performed. The Debye-type polarization remains prominent in the solutions, despite the extensive loss of intermolecular hydrogen bonds. At high temperatures, its contribution to permittivity extrapolates close to the statistically scaled values for the 2:1 solution. For others, the measured values of its contribution crossover the scaled values in a temperature plane. The faster relaxation process of about 4 magnitude has an asymmetric distribution of times in the solutions and, relative to those of the pure alcohol, their values decrease on heating more at high temperatures and less at low. This is attributed to an increase in the alcohol cluster size by consumption of monomers as well as the growth of smaller clusters as the solution is cooled. It is argued that structural fluctuation in solutions, as in the pure alcohol, is determined by the rates of both the Debye-type and the faster polarizations in the ultraviscous state.