The hydroxyl (OH) content of calcium metaphosphate glasses has been controlled in the range 50-800 ppm by melting calcium dihydrogen phosphate in air, under vacuum and with fluoride addition. Density, refractive index and glass transition temperature of the glasses increase with decrease in OH content while the coefficient of thermal expansion remains almost unchanged. With gradual decrease in OH, the UV cutoff initially shifts towards shorter and finally towards longer wavelengths. IR spectroscopic study shows that the OH groups exist exclusively in the hydrogen bonded states, Correlations of the glass properties with OH content have been explained in terms of structural rearrangement leading to the change in P-O bond length and O-P-O/P-O-P bond angles of the PO4 tetrahedral units of (PO3-)(n) chains. These changes are caused due to conversion of non-bridging oxygens (NBOs) of the H-bonded OH groups into bridging oxygens (BOs) during progress of dehydroxylation
