Hydrogen bonding in liquid methanol and ethanol determined by x-ray diffraction

The x-ray diffraction patterns of liquid methanol and ethanol have been measured at 20 °C. The data are analyzed to yield the molecular structures, and the distinct structure functions Hd(k) are analyzed to obtain the hydrogen bonding in these alcohols. The data show clearly that hydrogen-bonded hydroxyl groups occur in methanol and ethanol with an OH⋅⋅⋅OH distance of 2.8Å, and that each hydroxyl group has 1.8±0.1 nearest neighbors at this distance.