Effect of Pressure on Dielectric Relaxation in Isomeric Octanols

Abstract

Dielectric constant and loss have been measured in the frequency range 0.1 − 5 × 10⁶ Hz over a wide range of temperature and pressures to 4 kbar for the following compounds: 2‐octanol, 7‐methyl‐, 6‐methyl‐, 5‐methyl‐, and 2‐methyl‐3‐heptanol. For each compound, most of the dispersion is well described by the Debye equation. At high frequencies additional regions of dispersion appear which could be resolved in three of the compounds. Activation parameters are derived for all of the compounds and are functions of pressure, temperature, and the nature of the alcohol's alkyl group. A qualitative model of dielectric relaxation based on ideas of Litovitz and Anderson and Ullman is proposed to explain the results.