X-Ray Diffraction Study of Methanol-Water Mixtures

X-ray diffraction patterns o f m ethanol-water mixtures with mole fractions of methanol molecules o f 0.1, 0.25 and 0.9 have been measured. The experimental structure functions of mixtures are compared with those of pure solvents and with recent Molecular Dynamics results. Difference structure functions similar to thermodynamic excess functions are introduced for the analysis of methanol-water interactions. The comparison of the total and the difference structure functions from experiments and simulations shows an overall good agreement.