Reinvestigation of the Structures of Ethanol and Methanol at Room Temperature

Abstract

Diffraction studies of ethanol and methanol indicate strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding between neighboring alcohol molecules at room temperature. Each oxygen has, on the average, two nearest oxygen neighbors at 2.7 Å in each alcohol. From an analysis of the radial‐distribution function of each alcohol, a reasonable accounting of the observed intermolecular interactions is made.