IR studies of development of order in aluminum hydroxide gels

The usefulness of deuteration in detecting the development of order in aluminum hydroxide gel by IR spectra is demonstrated. By treatment of gel samples with deuterium oxide vapor at room temperature, the relative ease with which deuteroxyl-hydroxyl exchange takes place is determined as a function of the age of the gel. The use of scale expansion in conjunction with deuteration allows detection of IR absorbance characteristic of gibbsitic material long before such detection is possible by conventional IR analysis or X-ray diffraction.