The main aim of the present paper is to characterize the hydration properties of glucose and the hydrogen bond network in glucose-water mixtures. For these purposes, temperature scans on ten concentration values of glucose-water mixtures were performed by means of Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy. More specifically, in order to get this information an analysis of the intramolecular OH stretching mode, investigating the 3000-3700 cm-1 spectral range, was performed by means of an innovative approach based on the evaluation of the Spectral Distance (SD). The adopted procedure allows evaluating the glucose hydration number as well as characterizing the temperature behavior of the hydrogen bond network in the glucose-water mixtures. The obtained results for the hydration number are in excellent agreement with literature data and suggest the existence of a particular concentration value for which the hydrogen bond network shows a maximum strength.
Keywords: Fourier Transform InfraRed; glucose; spectral distance; temperature.