Raman isosbestic points from liquid water

Precise isosbestic points occur in the Raman OH-stretching spectra from liquid water between 3 and 85 °C if cell alignment is accomplished with Newton’s rings. Isosbestic frequencies measured for the orientations X(Y,X+Z)Y=6β2, X(ZX)Y=3β2, X(Y+Z,X+Z)Y=45α2+13β2, X(Z,X+Z)Y=45α2+7β2, and X(ZZ)Y=45α2+4β2 are 3524, 3522 (note β2 agreement), 3468, 3425, and 3403 cm−1, respectively. Isosbestic points from two different measurements calculated by the relations, X(ZZ)Y-(4/3)X(ZX)Y and X(Z,X+Z)Y-(7/6)X(Y,X+Z)Y agree exactly for 45α2, 3370 cm−1. (α and β2 correspond to the mean polarizability and square of the anisotropy.) The pure α2 isosbestic frequency, 3370 cm−1, coincides with the peak of the highest frequency hydrogen-bonded (HB) Gaussian OH-stretching component. The pure β2 isosbestic point, 3522–3524 cm−1, coincides with the peak of the nonhydrogen-bonded (NHB) Gaussian OH-stretching component, next above in frequency. The α2 and β2 isosbestic points are thus thought to provide an experimental distinction between, and a clear definition of, the HB and NHB OH-oscillator classes for water. Moreover, the various OH-stretching combinations of α2 and β2 simply provide different measures of the HB→NHB equilibrium—no special information concerning the temperature dependence of this equilibrium results from use of any one linear polarizability combination over any other, including pure α2 or pure β2. The present results agree with mercury-excited data [Walrafen, J. Chem. Phys. 47, 114 (1967)] for X(Y+Z,X+Z)Y and with the corrected α2 data of d’Arrigo et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 75, 4264 (1981)]. Furthermore, the new data are in accord with the spectroscopic mixture model, but the continuum model conflicts with the observation of exact points. The isosbestic frequencies are also found to be strongly nonlinear in the amount of α2 or β2 involved in the spectra.