I work with a steroidal ketone and ethylene gylcol (EG). I would like to prove that ethylene glycol forms a hydrogen bond with the carbonyl group of the steroid.
The problem is that so far I have not found a solvent in which both components would dissolve and at the same time the solvent does not affect the hydrogen bonding.
Because of a possible reaction mechanism, it would be important to prove this
In the IR spectrum, the frequency of the C=O stretch is altered by H-bonding.
Article Stoichiometric analysis of competing intermolecular hydrogen...
Dear Dávid - I think that James Demers already mentioned a very good point. What I'm wondering is the following: Is your steroidal ketone directly soluble in ethylene glycol? Perhaps it will dissolve upon heating. Than you perhaps have the chance to grow single-crystals of a solvate with ethylene glycol. If you are lucky, a single-crystal X-ray structure determination of this solvate will show the hydrogen bonding interaction between the carbonyl group of the ketone and the –OH functional groups of ethylene glycol. Good luck!
Thank you very much for your reply and ideas Frank T. Edelmann and James Demers . Unfortunately, the steroid does not dissolve in ethylene glycol because the steroid is very apolar. Glycol, on the other hand, is too polar to dissolve in solvents in which the steroid can also dissolved.
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