Liquid Structure of <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-Dimethylformamide, Acetonitrile, and Their 1 : 1 Molar Mixture

Abstract Liquid structures of pure N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and acetonitrile (AN) as well as of their 1 : 1 molar mixture were investigated by X-ray diffraction at 25 °C. The careful reinvestigation of pure DMF led to a good reproducibility of the previous result. Slight deviations in the structural parameters are discussed and a detailed parameter table is reported. A simple model in which each AN molecule has 2 neighbors at an average distance of 330 pm describes the more ordered first neighbor structure of pure AN. The main interaction forming the structure is of dipole–dipole type, in agreement with previous findings. In the 1 : 1 molar mixture a dipole–dipole model also leads to a satisfactory description of the first neighbor structure. The preferred orientation is that with dipoles in the antiparallel position. A central DMF molecule has 1.75 neighboring AN molecules in average at a distance of 316 pm. The same stands for DMF around AN. No evidence for other kinds of interaction, e.g., weak H-bond type intermolecular interactions could be found in the mixture.