The Molecular Structure and Hydrogen Bond Geometry in Liquid Formamide: Electron, Neutron, and X-Ray Diffraction Studies

Abstract

Abstract Electron, neutron and X-ray diffraction patterns of liquid formamide have been measured at a temperature of 25 °C. Analysis of the diffraction data yields the molecular structure and the average geometry of the hydrogen bond. The molecular parameters obtained from liquid diffraction experiments are in good agreement with those from gas electron diffraction for the free molecule. The mean O…N and O…H hydrogen bond distances are 2.9 Å and 1.9 Å, respectively. Four H-bonds per molecule are found on the average. The deviation of the H-bonds from the linearity is estimated.