The Spectrum Characteristic of Hydrogen Bonds

Abstract

It has been observed that in certain substances containing hydroxyl hydrogen the relatively narrow and intense absorption bands which ordinarily are characteristic of the O-H group appear to be absent. Since in these cases it appears very probable that the hydroxyl hydrogen is involved in the formation of the type of linkage known as the "hydrogen bond" it has been suggested that the absence of bands may be taken as a criterion for the presence of such bond (1). On the other hand the O-H fundamental band appears strongly in a number of substances containing hydroxyl groups in which the hydrogens are supposed to be engaged in linkages which Bernal and Megal prefer, in this case, to call "hydroxyl bonds" (2). These substances include ice and a number of minerals examined by Coblentz (3). These observations have left the situation somewhat unclear since they leave the question open as to whether the O-H absorption in the cases first mentioned has merely shifted to some new region where it has not been observed, or whether it has really disappeared. If the latter were true there would appear to be a considerable difference between the hydrogen linkages in the two cases.

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