We have recently interrogated several binary supracritical
mixtures by means of interaction-induced Raman
light scattering originating from a probe molecule (supracritical
methane) at a concentration of 10 mol % in
a variety of supracritical solvent systems (e.g., Ar, CO2,
CF4, etc.). In this paper we look at a very
different
kind of solvent, supracritical molecular hydrogen. It was chosen
because of its well-known reorientational
properties, i.e., quantum mechanical rotation in all phases (except
perhaps metallic H2(s)). The results
indicate
that the I/d vs d plots are more
complicated than earlier systems studied and give good evidence of
additional
numbers of H2 molecules clustered around the solute
CH4. Hydrogen's absolute differential Raman
rotational
cross-section for ΔJ = 1 → 3 is very well known and
combined with the cross-section of the methane probe
molecules' ν1 symmetric stretching vibration, it was
possible to quantify and compare the contributions of
various mechanisms known to be present in interaction-induced Raman
light scattering of a wide variety of
solvents and to therefore judge their solvating capacities vis a vis
CH4.