Molecular pair-correlation function of liquid acetonitrile from X-ray and neutron-diffraction studies

Abstract

X-ray-diffraction studies on liquid acetonitrile at 20°C were carried out at a wavelength of 0·7 Å. The data were corrected for polarization, absorption, Compton scattering and multiple scattering. The coherent distinct differential cross section was separated into intramolecular and intermolecular contributions. Whereas from the intramolecular coherent cross section the structure of the molecule in the liquid was determined, the intermolecular coherent cross section, together with intermolecular contributions from neutron-scattering data on CD3C14N and CD3C15N, was employed to determine three expansion coefficients of the molecular pair-correlation function.