Acetone and water mixtures covering the whole solubility range were measured by Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy. In this system, only water can supply the hydrogen atoms necessary for hydrogen bonding. Using spectral windowing with factor analysis (FA), 10 principal factors were retrieved, five water and five acetone. Hydrogen bonding is observed on the carbonyl stretch band as water is introduced in the solution, redshifting the band further from its gas position than that observed in pure liquid acetone. This indicates that the hydrogen bonding is stronger than the acetone dipole-dipole interactions because it overrides them. A water molecule isolated in acetone is twice H bonded through its two H atoms; although both OH groups are H-bond donors, the OH stretch band is less redshifted (similar to138 cm(-1)) than that of pure liquid water (similar to401 cm(-1)). This is attributable to the two lone electron pairs remaining on the oxygen atom that sustain a large part of the OH valence bond strength. Hydrogen bonds on the water oxygen weaken both its OH valence bonds and modify the OH stretch band when water is added to the solution. The oxygen atoms of both water and acetone can accept 0, 1, and 2 H bonds given by water to yield three water and three acetone situations. Since these six situations are far less than the 10 principal factors retrieved by FA, other perturbations must be present to account for the difference. Although acetone and water are intermingled through H bonds, hydrates in the sense of an acetone molecule sequestering a number of water molecules or altering the H-bonding water network are not present because the principal factors evolve independently. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.