Water/alcohol mixtures: A spectroscopic study of the water-saturated 1-octanol solution

The properties of the water-saturated 1-octanol solution in the 10-75 degreesC temperature range have been investigated by means of different scattering spectroscopies. The results of Raman, depolarized-Rayleigh, and Rayleigh - Brillouin experiments have been compared to the corresponding results recently obtained for the pure alcohol in our laboratory. Spectroscopic findings obtained for the temperature behavior of vibrational, rotational, and translational degrees of freedom are analyzed according to a single, unifying picture of this liquid system. Differences and analogies between pure and water-saturated 1-octanol suggest the key for interpreting the structural properties connected to the amphiphilic nature of n-alcohols. In a wider perspective, the same arguments can be applied to the study of larger and more complicated systems such as phospholipids for which 1-octanol represents a simple model.