DIELECTRIC BEHAVIOR OF MIXTURES OF HEPTANOL-1 AND HEPTANOL-4 AND FLUID STRUCTURE OF MONOALCOHOLS

The dielectric properties of mixtures of heptanol-1 and heptanol-4 were determined in the frequency range between 1 kHz and 3 MHz at temperatures between -60 and 0°. The results of the measurements indicate that, although the two alcohols have different activation enthalpies, the dielectric properties of their mixtures can nevertheless be described by means of a single principal relaxation range. From this it follows that the theory of Bauer, Magat, and Brot concerning the dielectric relaxation of the monoalcohols, which theory states that breaking of the hydrogen bond is the rate-determining step, must be rejected. A possible explanation for the experimental results could be that the liquids under study contain one kind of cyclic multimers with a high dipole moment, and that these multimer units are retained during the reorientation process.