A New Dielectric Dispersion in Long-Chain Normal Primary Alcohol of Probable Carbon Number 32 at Lower Temperature Phase

Abstract

Certain normal long-chain alcohols are well known for their anomalous dielectric properties in higher temperature phase, which are often attributed to molecular rotation in the crystal lattice. In the present article are described the experiments on the anomalous dielectric dispersion of long-chain normal primary alcohol of probable carbon number 32, extracted from Carnauba wax. The higher temperature phase (68°–86°C) has quite the same dielectric behaviour which is already known in hexadecyl and octadecyl alcohol. But on the other hand, in lower temperature phase a new dispersion of Debye type was observed. The relaxation time seems to have a certain distribution, and the activation energy estimated from relaxation time versus inverse absolute temperature curve is 26.4 Kcal/mol. The dispersion is considered to be due to the reorientation of O–H group as a result of the restricted rotation or twisting of the molecule.