Measurements and predictive models for the N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone/water/methanol system

This work reports on the properties and structure of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone in binary and ternary liquid mixtures with water and/or methanol. A comprehensive set of thermophysical properties have been measured at 298.15 K and 0.1 MPa over the whole composition range. On the basis of the derived excess and mixing properties, the fluid structure was analyzed by looking into the forces and geometry factors that effectively control the mixture behavior. Application of the inverted Kirkwood-Buff theory provides a reasonable link between the macroscopic properties and the microscopic features. A density functional theory computation was carried out to analyze the structure and energy features of the hydrogen bonded complexes formed between the components. Use of semiempirical models in the framework of molecular-based equations of state according to the PC-SAFT approach led to unsatisfactory predicted thermophysical properties. The conclusions arrived at give away the existence of strong heteroassociations and hydrogen bonding self-associations that determine the complex nature of the fluid structure.