Contrasting microscopic interactions determine the properties of water/methanol solutions

Herein we study the different microscopic interactions occurring in water/methanol solutions at different methanol molar fractions, using NMR spctroscopy. Temperature was found to determine which interaction dominates. It was found that the mixing between water and methanol is non-ideal because of the presence of interactions like hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. These results indicate that the competition between hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions is different in different thermal regions, and that the physical properties of the solution are determined by the character of the solution itself, which in turn depends on the mole fraction of methanol and on the temperature.