Dielectric loss spectra covering 13 decades in frequency were collected for 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, a monohydroxy alcohol that exhibits a prominent Debye-like relaxation, typical for several classes of hydrogen-bonded liquids. The thermal variation of the dielectric absorption amplitude agrees well with that of the hydrogen-bond equilibrium population, experimentally mapped out using near infrared (NIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. Despite this agreement, temperature-jump NIR spectroscopy reveals that the hydrogen-bond switching rate does not define the frequency position of the prominent absorption peak. This contrasts with widespread notions and models based thereon, but is consistent with a recent approach.
@article{arxiv.1106.5614,
title = {Hydrogen-bond equilibria and life times in a supercooled monohydroxy alcohol},
author = {C. Gainaru and S. Kastner and F. Mayr and P. Lunkenheimer and S. Schildmann and H. J. Weber and W. Hiller and A. Loidl and R. Böhmer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1106.5614},
year = {2012}
}