SELF-ASSOCIATION BEHAVIOUR OF ALCOHOLS IN DILUTED AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

Our recent studies related to the properties of alcohol/water mixtures show the occurrence of some kind of molecular aggregation in the water-rich region of composition beyond a threshold alcohol concentration x2*. The observed behaviour suggests that for x2short-range order and microdynamic of water molecules are changed with respect to those of pure water. Alcohol molecules are in mutual contact at higher concentration only when almost all water is involved in hydration shells of alcohol molecules. The structural transition at x2* resembles, for some aspect, the micellization process. The main results of these investigations are reviewed and discussed in this paper.