Intermolecular vibrations of different isotopologs of the water dimer: Experiments and density functional theory calculations

Vibrational Energy Flow in the Uracil-H2O Complexes

In the uracil-H₂O complex, the vibrational energy initially stored in the OH(v = 1) stretch efficiently transfers to the first overtone-bending mode under a near-resonant condition. The relaxation of the overtone vibration redistributes its energy to uracil and the two hydrogen bonds in the intermolecular zone, which consists of the OH bond and the bonds between nearby C, N, O, and H atoms of uracil. The uracil NH bond and the hydrogen bond it formed with the H₂O molecule, N-H···O, store the major portion of the energy released by the relaxing bending mode, thus forming a localized hot band in the intermolecular zone. Energy transfer to the bonds beyond the zone is found to be not significant. The excited uracil NH is found to transfer its energy to the bending mode, thus indicating that the hydrogen bond of N-H···O is the principal energy pathway in both directions. In the presence of efficient near-resonant energy transfer pathways, the time evolution of the centers of mass distance shows the phenomenon of beats. One global and two different local minima energy structures are considered. The results of energy transfer do not differ significantly, suggesting that the two hydrogen bonds in all three structures have similar contributions to the energy transfer.

Isotope Effects Induced by Molecular Compression

Zero-point energies (ZPEs) of hydroxyl ion and hydrogen and water molecules, free and compressed in C₆₀ cages, are computed; the excess energy acquired by molecules under compression is in the range 2-3 kcal/mol and depends on the isotopes. The differences in ZPE of compressed isotopic molecules strongly exceed those of the free molecules, resulting in the large deuterium and tritium isotope effects. These effects induced by compression are suggested as a probe for testing molecular compression of enzymatic sites; they may be important for understanding enormously large isotope effects observed in some enzymatic reactions, where they are attributed to the tunneling.

Terahertz and mid-infrared spectroscopy of matrix-isolated clusters and matrix-sublimation ice of D2O

We have established an apparatus for terahertz and mid-infrared spectroscopy in an ultrahigh vacuum and have measured absorption spectra of D₂O clusters trapped in solid Ar. To assign terahertz absorption peaks due to the D₂O dimer, trimer, and tetramer, the dependence of the spectrum on the annealing temperature and D₂O dilution was analyzed. The assignment was also examined by ab initio calculations with the use of the "our own N-layered integrated molecular orbital and molecular mechanics" method, where the flexibility of surrounding Ar atoms was systematically incorporated. We identified all the intermolecular fundamentals of the dimer and those with significant intensities of the trimer and tetramer, whose structural symmetries were revealed to be broken down. After isolating the D₂O clusters in solid Ar, we sublimated only Ar atoms to leave behind matrix-sublimation ice, which was found to be amorphous- or crystal-like depending on the formation conditions: the dilution and sublimation temperature. The crystallinity of matrix-sublimation ice was determined by decomposing its terahertz spectrum into the spectra of amorphous and crystalline ices. Since the crystallinity got higher by raising the dilution and sublimation temperature, the diffusion of the D₂O monomer on the surface of sublimating solid Ar was found to be crucial to the crystallization of the sublimation ice.

Evaluating Computational Chemistry Methods for Isotopic Fractionation between CO2(g) and H2O(g)

Quantum mechanical calculations can be useful in predicting equilibrium isotopic fractionations of geochemical reactions. However, these computational chemistry methods vary widely in their effectiveness in the prediction of various physical observables. Most studies employing the approach known as density functional theory (DFT) to model these observable quantities focus on predictive accuracy for energetics and geometries. In this study, several density functionals are evaluated against experimental bond lengths, harmonic vibrational frequencies, frequency shifts upon isotopic substitution, and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O isotopic fractionation between CO₂(g) and H₂O(g). Successful prediction of harmonic vibrational frequencies strongly correlates with successful prediction of isotopic fractionation, despite the possible introduction of errors by the harmonic approximation. Harmonic experimental frequencies, not anharmonic ones, must be used when comparing spectra and when predicting isotope fractionation. The B3LYP and X3LYP functionals perform more accurately in the evaluation of both harmonic vibrational frequencies and isotopic fractionation factors using the 6-311+G(d,p) and 6-311++G(2d,p) basis sets, achieving fractionation factor errors of 0.2-0.6‰ at 25 °C out of a total fractionation of 51‰. Error cancellation between vibrational frequencies and the harmonic approximation is crucial to their success. The above combination of exchange-correlation functionals and basis sets also well predicts the vibrational properties of interacting CO₂ and H₂O molecules, suggesting that they may be applicable to more complex geochemical reactions involving C and O isotopic fractionations.

Highly localized H2O librational motion as a far-infrared spectroscopic probe for microsolvation of organic molecules

The most prominent spectroscopic observable for the hydrogen bonding between individual molecules in liquid water is the broad absorption band detected in the spectral region between 300 and 900 cm-1. The present work demonstrates how the associated large-amplitude out-of-plane OH librational motion of H2O molecules also directly reflects the microsolvation of organic compounds. This highly localized OH librational motion of the first solvating H2O molecule causes a significant change of dipole moment and gives rise to a strong characteristic band in the far-infrared spectral region, which is correlated quantitatively with the complexation energy. The out-of-plane OH librational band origins ranging from 324.5 to 658.9 cm-1 have been assigned experimentally for a series of four binary hydrogen-bonded H2O complexes embedded in solid neon involving S-, O- and N-containing compounds with increasing hydrogen bond acceptor capability. The hydrogen bond energies for altogether eight binary H2O complexes relative to the experimental value of 13.2 ± 0.12 kJ mol-1 for the prototypical (H2O)2 system [Rocher-Casterline et al., J. Chem. Phys., 2011, 134, 211101] are revealed directly by these far-infrared spectroscopic observables. The far-infrared spectral signatures are able to capture even minor differences in the hydrogen bond acceptor capability of O atoms with slightly different alkyl substituents in the order H-O-C(CH3)3 > CH3-O-CH3 > H-O-CH(CH3)2 > H-O-CH2CH3.

THz spectroscopy of weakly bound cluster molecules in solid para-hydrogen: a sensitive probe of van der Waals interactions

The present work demonstrates that 99.9% enriched solid para-H2 below 3 K provides an excellent inert and transparent medium for the exploration of large-amplitude intermolecular vibrational motion of weakly bound van der Waals cluster molecules in the THz spectral region. THz absorption spectra have been generated for CO2/H2O and CS2/H2O mixtures embedded in enriched solid para-H2 and numerous observed transitions associated with large-amplitude librational motion of the weakly bound binary CO2H2O and CS2H2O van der Waals cluster molecules have been assigned together with tentative assignments for the ternary CS2(H2O)2 system. The interaction strength, directionality and anharmonicity of the weak van der Waals "bonds" between the molecules can be characterized via these THz spectral signatures and yield rigorous benchmarks for high-level ab initio methodologies. It is suggested that even a less stable linear conformation of the ternary CS2(H2O)2 system, where one H2O molecule is linked to each S atom of the CS2 subunit, may be formed due to the kinetics associated with the mobility of free H2O molecules in the soft para-H2 medium. In addition, the spectroscopic observations confirm a linear and planar global intermolecular potential energy minimum for the binary CS2H2O system with C2v symmetry, where the O atom on the H2O molecule is linked to one of the S atoms on the CS2 subunit. A semi-experimental value for the vibrational zero-point energy contribution of 1.93 ± 0.10 kJ mol-1 from the class of large-amplitude intermolecular vibrational modes is proposed. The combination with CCSD(T)/CBS electronic energy predictions provides a semi-experimental estimate of 5.08 ± 0.15 kJ mol-1 for the binding energy D0 of the CS2H2O van der Waals system.

Relaxation of the H2O Overtone Bending Vibration in the Water Dimer···Hydroxyl Radical Complex

The relaxation mechanism of the overtone bending vibration in the collision of the water dimer with the vibrationally excited hydroxyl radical is studied by use of trajectory procedures. The transfer of the OH(v = 1) energy to the dimer stretches is followed by a near-resonant first overtone transition to the donor monomer. Nearly a quarter of the trajectories undergo a complex-mode collision, forming the (H₂O)₂···OH complex bound by a hydrogen bond with the lifetime ranging from a subpicosecond scale to >100 ps. The overtone vibration relaxes to the ground state, transferring approximately half of its energy to the dimer hydrogen-bonding (H₂O···H₂O) and the remaining half to the complex hydrogen-bonding (H₂O)₂···OH, via near-resonant pathways, each consisting of a series of intermolecular low-frequency vibrations.

Energy Transfer to the Hydrogen Bond in the (H2O)2 + H2O Collision

Trajectory procedures are used to study the collision between the vibrationally excited H₂O and the ground-state (H₂O)₂ with particular reference to energy transfer to the hydrogen bond through the inter- and intramolecular pathways. In nearly 98% of the trajectories, energy transfer processes occur on a subpicosecond scale (≤0.7 ps). The H₂O transfers approximately three-quarters of its excitation energy to the OH stretches of the dimer. The first step of the intramolecular pathway in the dimer involves a near-resonant first overtone transition from the OH stretch to the bending mode. The energy transfer probability in the presence of the 1:2 resonance is 0.61 at 300 K. The bending mode then redistributes its energy to low-frequency intermolecular vibrations in a series of small excitation steps, with the pathway which results in the hydrogen-bonding modes gaining most of the available energy. The hydrogen bonding in ∼50% of the trajectories ruptures on vibrational excitation, leaving one quantum in the bend of the monomer fragment. In a small fraction of trajectories, the duration of collision is longer than 1 ps, during which the dimer and H₂O form a short-lived complex through a secondary hydrogen bond, which undergoes large amplitude oscillations.

Spectroscopic identification of ethanol-water conformers by large-amplitude hydrogen bond librational modes

The far-infrared absorption spectra have been recorded for hydrogen-bonded complexes of water with ethanol embedded in cryogenic neon matrices at 2.8 K. The partial isotopic H/D-substitution of the ethanol subunit enabled by a dual inlet deposition procedure enables the observation and unambiguous assignment of the intermolecular high-frequency out-of-plane and the low-frequency in-plane donor OH librational modes for two different conformations of the mixed binary ethanol/water complex. The resolved donor OH librational bands confirm directly previous experimental evidence that ethanol acts as the O⋯HO hydrogen bond acceptor in the two most stable conformations. In the most stable conformation, the water subunit forces the ethanol molecule into its less stable gauche configuration upon dimerization owing to a cooperative secondary weak O⋯HC hydrogen bond interaction evidenced by a significantly blue-shift of the low-frequency in-plane donor OH librational band origin. The strong correlation between the low-frequency in-plane donor OH librational motion and the secondary intermolecular O⋯HC hydrogen bond is demonstrated by electronic structure calculations. The experimental findings are further supported by CCSD(T)-F12/aug-cc-pVQZ calculations of the conformational energy differences together with second-order vibrational perturbation theory calculations of the large-amplitude donor OH librational band origins.

The donor OH stretching–libration dynamics of hydrogen-bonded methanol dimers in cryogenic matrices

FTIR spectra of the methanol dimer trapped in neon matrices are presented.

The influence of large-amplitude librational motion on the hydrogen bond energy for alcohol–water complexes

The intermolecular large-amplitude OH librational modes for mixed hydrogen-bonded complexes of water with methanol and t-butanol are unambiguously assigned for the first time.

Communication: THz absorption spectrum of the CO2-H2O complex: observation and assignment of intermolecular van der Waals vibrations

Terahertz absorption spectra have been recorded for the weakly bound CO2-H2O complex embedded in cryogenic neon matrices at 2.8 K. The three high-frequency van der Waals vibrational transitions associated with out-of-plane wagging, in-plane rocking, and torsional motion of the isotopic H2O subunit have been assigned and provide crucial observables for benchmark theoretical descriptions of this systems' flat intermolecular potential energy surface. A (semi)-empirical value for the zero-point energy of 273 ± 15 cm(-1) from the class of intermolecular van der Waals vibrations is proposed and the combination with high-level quantum chemical calculations provides a value of 726 ± 15 cm(-1) for the dissociation energy D0.

Inducing H/D exchange in ultrathin ice films by proton deficiency

We show that H/D exchange between H(2)O and D(2)O in ultrathin ice films adsorbed on Cu(100) does not occur through autoionization at temperatures below 140 K. The exchange is, however, facile if a proton deficiency is induced in the ice films by having small amounts of OH preadsorbed on the copper surface. The system was studied using surface infrared vibrational spectroscopy with the aid of density functional theory calculations.