Methanol in its own gravy. A PCM study for simulation of vibrational spectra

For studying both hydrogen bond and dipole–dipole interactions between methanol molecules (self-association) the geometry of clusters of increasing numbers of methanol molecules (n = 1,2,3) were optimized and also their vibrational frequencies were calculated with quantum chemical methods. Beside these B3LYP/6-311G** calculations, PCM calculations were also done for all systems with PCM at the same quantum chemical method and basis set, for considering the effect of the liquid continuum on the cluster properties. Comparing the results, the measured and calculated infrared spectra are in good accordance.