Femtosecond mid-infrared spectroscopy of hydrogen-bonded liquids

We perform femotsecond mid-infrared pump-probe spectroscopy on hydrogen-bonded ethanol dissolved in CCl₄. We find that upon excitation of the OH-stretching vibration the hydrogen bonds are predissociated on a femtosecond time scale, and that the predissociation time constant depends strongly on the hydrogen-bond strength.