Polarized IR spectra of the hydrogen bond in acetic acid crystals

The paper presents the results of our investigations of the polarized IR spectra of the hydrogen bond in crystals of acetic acid, CH3COOH, as well as in crystals of three deuterium isotopomers of the compound: CH3COOD, CD3COOH and CD3COOD. The spectra were measured at 283 K and at 77 K by a transmission method using polarized light. Theoretical analysis of the results concerned the linear dichroic effects, together with the H/D isotopic and temperature effects observed in the solid-state IR spectra of the hydrogen and of the deuterium bond at the frequency ranges of the νO–H and the νO–D bands, respectively. Basic spectral properties of the crystals can be interpreted satisfactorily in terms of one of the quantitative theories of the IR spectra of the hydrogen bond, i.e. the “strong-coupling” theory or the “relaxation” theory when a hydrogen bond dimer model is used. From the spectra obtained it resulted that the strongest exciton coupling involved the closely spaced hydrogen bonds, belonging to different chains of associated acetic acid molecules. These results contradict the former explanation of the spectra within a model, which assumed a strong vibrational exciton coupling between four hydrogen bonds in a unit cell. On analyzing the spectra of isotopically diluted crystalline samples of acetic acid it has been proved that a non-random distribution of the protons and deuterons takes place in the hydrogen bond lattices. This non-conventional isotopic effect is a result of dynamical co-operative interactions involving hydrogen bonds in the system. Simultaneously it has been also found that in an individual hydrogen bonded chain in the crystals, distribution of the hydrogen isotope atoms H and D was fully random. The H/D isotopic “self-organization” mechanism most probably involves a pair of hydrogen bonds from each unit cell where each hydrogen bond belongs to a different chain.