Factors influencing Al(3+)-dimer speciation and stability from density functional theory calculations

We have investigated aqueous Al-dimer complexes using density functional theory methods (e.g. the B3LYP exchange-correlation functional and the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set). In these calculations interactions between the Al(3+) cations and the H(2)O or OH(-) coordinating ligands are considered explicitly while the second hydration shell and remaining solvent are treated as a continuum under the IEF-PCM formalism. The Al-dimer chemical reactivity is discussed by analysis of changes in geometry, electronic structure and Gibbs free energy of formation, relative to two independent Al(H(2)O) monomers, as a function of water and hydroxide coordination. Our results indicate that the mechanism of cooperativity, i.e. decreased Al-water bond stability with increasing OH(-) coordination and increased water ligand hydrolysis as complex CN decreases, is operating on the dimer species and that, therefore, a wide variety of dimer species are available. While the stability of these species is observed to be dependent on the number of water and hydroxide ligands, the hydroxide bridging structure (singly, doubly and triply bridged species are considered) does not appear to correlate with dimer stability. Interestingly, intra-molecular H-bonds (in the form of the well known H(3)O bridge as well as two bridging structures, H(4)O(2) and H(2)O, that have not, to our knowledge, been previously considered) are observed to influence dimer stability. The evaluation of the equilibrium mole fraction of the dimer species in equilibrium with the aqueous Al(3+) monomer species of our previous study displays the qualitatively correct trend of solution composition as pH increases, namely monomeric aqueous Al(3+) and Al(OH) complexes dominate at low and high pH, respectively, and all remaining monomer and dimer species exist at intermediate pH. Further refinement of our data set by eliminating dimer complexes with OH/Al ratios greater than 2.6 brings our predicted equilibrium mole fraction distributions into excellent agreement with experimental observations. The triply bridged dimer is observed in low amounts while the singly and doubly bridged dimers dominate our model system at pH = ～4-7.     

Polarizable interaction potential for water from coupled cluster calculations. II. Applications to dimer spectra, virial coefficients, and simulations of liquid water

The six-dimensional CC-pol interaction potential for the water dimer was used to predict properties of the dimer and of liquid water, in the latter case after being supplemented by a nonadditive potential. All the results were obtained purely from first principles, i.e., without any fitting to experimental data. Calculations of the vibration-rotation-tunneling levels of (H(2)O)(2) and (D(2)O)(2), a very sensitive test of the potential surface, gave results in good agreement with experimental high-resolution spectra. Also the virial coefficients and properties of liquid water agree well with measured values. The present model performs better than published force fields for water in a simultaneous reproduction of experimental data for dimer spectra, virials, and properties of the liquid.     

2(1H)-pyridinone (2-pyridone): self-association and association with water. Spectral and structural characteristics: infrared study and ab initio calculations

DFT calculations of 2(1H)-pyridinone (2-pyridone NHP), the centrosymmetric dimer (NHP)2 and the closed complexes (NHP, H2O) and (NHP, 2H2O), with their deuterated homologues NDP, (NDP)2, (NDP, D2O) and (NDP, 2D2O), are compared with vibrational spectra of NHP and NDP in ternary mixtures CH3CN, NHP, H2O. Experimental data are also obtained for NHP or NDP in various solvents. The protic solvent effects demonstrate that mechanical couplings are different in the 1500-1700 cm(-1) range for the nuC=O and nu8b (valence of the ring) modes in NHP and NDP (or (NHP, H2O) and (NDP, D2O)). For the first time, data are obtained for NDP in the dimer (NHP, NDP). Comparison of data for pyridone, monomer, dimer or complexed with water, shows that in the complexes, water is a weaker proton acceptor and a stronger proton donor than a second pyridone molecule in the centrosymmetric dimer.     

On the structure of the water dimer

The infrared spectrum of the mixed water dimer H₂O·D₂O has been observed at 20 K in a nitrogen matrix. The O-H(D) … O stretching vibrations are found to be slightly shifted compared to the corresponding vibrations in (H₂O)₂ and (D₂O)₂. The results are interpreted as evidence for the open dimer structure of Tursi and Nixon.     

Water trimer torsional spectrum from accurate ab initio and semiempirical potentials

The torsional levels of (H2O)3 and (D2O)3 were calculated in a restricted dimensionality (three-dimensional) model with several recently proposed water potentials. Comparison with the experimental data provides a critical test, not only of the pair interactions that have already been probed on the water dimer spectra, but also of the nonadditive three-body contributions to the potential. The purely ab initio CC-pol and HBB potentials that were previously shown to yield very accurate water dimer levels, also reproduce the trimer levels well when supplemented with an appropriate three-body interaction potential. The TTM2.1 potential gives considerably less good agreement with experiment. Also the semiempirical VRT(ASP-W)III potential, fitted to the water dimer vibration-rotation-tunneling levels, gives substantial disagreement with the measured water trimer levels, which shows that the latter probe the potential for geometries other than those probed by the dimer spectrum. Although the three-body nonadditive interactions significantly increase the stability of the water trimer, their effect on the torsional energy barriers and vibration-tunneling frequencies is less significant.     

Assessment of density functional approximations for the hemibonded structure of the water dimer radical cation

Due to the severe self-interaction errors associated with some density functional approximations, conventional density functionals often fail to dissociate the hemibonded structure of the water dimer radical cation (H(2)O)(2)(+) into the correct fragments: H(2)O and H(2)O(+). Consequently, the binding energy of the hemibonded structure (H(2)O)(2)(+) is not well-defined. For a comprehensive comparison of different functionals for this system, we propose three criteria: (i) the binding energies, (ii) the relative energies between the conformers of the water dimer radical cation, and (iii) the dissociation curves predicted by different functionals. The long-range corrected (LC) double-hybrid functional, ωB97X-2(LP) [J.-D. Chai and M. Head-Gordon, J. Chem. Phys., 2009, 131, 174105], is shown to perform reasonably well based on these three criteria. Reasons that LC hybrid functionals generally work better than conventional density functionals for hemibonded systems are also explained in this work.     

Study of adsorption and decomposition of H2O on Ge(100)

The adsorption and decomposition of water on Ge(100) have been investigated using real-time scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The STM results revealed two distinct adsorption features of H2O on Ge(100) corresponding to molecular adsorption and H-OH dissociative adsorption. In the molecular adsorption geometry, H2O molecules are bound to the surface via Ge-O dative bonds between the O atom of H2O and the electrophilic down atom of the Ge dimer. In the dissociative adsorption geometry, the H2O molecule dissociates into H and OH, which bind covalently to a Ge-Ge dimer on Ge(100) in an H-Ge-Ge-OH configuration. The DFT calculations showed that the dissociative adsorption geometry is more stable than the molecular adsorption geometry. This finding is consistent with the STM results, which showed that the dissociative product becomes dominant as the H2O coverage is increased. The simulated STM images agreed very well with the experimental images. In the real-time STM experiments, we also observed a structural transformation of the H2O molecule from the molecular adsorption to the dissociative adsorption geometry.     

Ab initio theoretical calculations of the electronic excitation energies of small water clusters

A direct ab initio molecular dynamics method has been applied to a water monomer and water clusters (H(2)O)(n) (n = 1-3) to elucidate the effects of zero-point energy (ZPE) vibration on the absorption spectra of water clusters. Static ab initio calculations without ZPE showed that the first electronic transitions of (H(2)O)(n), (1)B(1)←(1)A(1), are blue-shifted as a function of cluster size (n): 7.38 eV (n = 1), 7.58 eV (n = 2) and 8.01 eV (n = 3). The inclusion of the ZPE vibration strongly affects the excitation energies of a water dimer, and a long red-tail appears in the range of 6.42-6.90 eV due to the structural flexibility of a water dimer. The ultraviolet photodissociation of water clusters and water ice surfaces is relevant to these results.     

CARBOXYLATED ZINC-PHTHALOCYANINE, INFLUENCE OF DIMERIZATION ON THE SPECTROSCOPIC PROPERTIES. AN ABSORPTION, EMISSION, AND THERMAL LENSING STUDY

Monomer and dimer absorption and emission spectra, and dimerization constants are reported for the diamide of the zinc-tetracarboxyphthalocyanine in pure dimethylformamide (DMF) and in H₂O/DMF mixtures at room temperature. The dimerization constant increases steadily with the water content. The monomer absorption Q-band is insensitive to the solvent composition, whereas dimer spectra show great variations with the water content. Stationary emission measurements show that fluorescence originates exclusively from the monomers. The fluorescence spectrum as well as its absolute fluorescence quantum yield, measured by steady-state thermal lensing, are also insensitive to the solvent composition. The thermal lensing method is discussed for the case of two absorbing species in equilibrium.     

Intermolecular electrostatic energies using density fitting

A method is presented to calculate the electron-electron and nuclear-electron intermolecular Coulomb interaction energy between two molecules by separately fitting the unperturbed molecular electron density of each monomer. This method is based on the variational Coulomb fitting method which relies on the expansion of the ab initio molecular electron density in site-centered auxiliary basis sets. By expanding the electron density of each monomer in this way the integral expressions for the intermolecular electrostatic calculations are simplified, lowering the operation count as well as the memory usage. Furthermore, this method allows the calculation of intermolecular Coulomb interactions with any level of theory from which a one-electron density matrix can be obtained. Our implementation is initially tested by calculating molecular properties with the density fitting method using three different auxiliary basis sets and comparing them to results obtained from ab initio calculations. These properties include dipoles for a series of molecules, as well as the molecular electrostatic potential and electric field for water. Subsequently, the intermolecular electrostatic energy is tested by calculating ten stationary points on the water dimer potential-energy surface. Results are presented for electron densities obtained at four different levels of theory using two different basis sets, fitted with three auxiliary basis sets. Additionally, a one-dimensional electrostatic energy surface scan is performed for four different systems (H2O dimer, Mg2+-H2O, Cu+-H2O, and n-methyl-formamide dimer). Our results show a very good agreement with ab initio calculations for all properties as well as interaction energies.     

The electronic structure of free water clusters probed by Auger electron spectroscopy

(H2O)(N) clusters generated in a supersonic expansion source with N approximately 1000 were core ionized by synchrotron radiation, giving rise to core-level photoelectron and Auger electron spectra (AES), free from charging effects. The AES is interpreted as being intermediate between the molecular and solid water spectra showing broadened bands as well as a significant shoulder at high kinetic energy. Qualitative considerations as well as ab initio calculations explain this shoulder to be due to delocalized final states in which the two valence holes are mostly located at different water molecules. The ab initio calculations show that valence hole configurations with both valence holes at the core-ionized water molecule are admixed to these final states and give rise to their intensity in the AES. Density-functional investigations of model systems for the doubly ionized final states--the water dimer and a 20-molecule water cluster--were performed to analyze the localization of the two valence holes in the electronic ground states. Whereas these holes are preferentially located at the same water molecule in the dimer, they are delocalized in the cluster showing a preference of the holes for surface molecules. The calculated double-ionization potential of the cluster (22.1 eV) is in reasonable agreement with the low-energy limit of the delocalized hole shoulder in the AES.     

Dihydrogen trioxide clusters, (HOOOH)n (n = 2-4), and the hydrogen-bonded complexes of HOOOH with acetone and dimethyl ether: implications for the decomposition of HOOOH

Hydrogen-bonded gas-phase molecular clusters of dihydrogen trioxide (HOOOH) have been investigated using DFT (B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd)) and MP2/6-311++G(3df,3pd) methods. The binding energies, vibrational frequencies, and dipole moments for the various dimer, trimer, and tetramer structures, in which HOOOH acts as a proton donor as well as an acceptor, are reported. The stronger binding interaction in the HOOOH dimer, as compared to that in the analogous cyclic structure of the HOOH dimer, indicates that dihydrogen trioxide is a stronger acid than hydrogen peroxide. A new decomposition pathway for HOOOH was explored. Decomposition occurs via an eight-membered ring transition state for the intermolecular (slightly asynchronous) transfer of two protons between the HOOOH molecules, which form a cyclic dimer, to produce water and singlet oxygen (Delta (1)O 2). This autocatalytic decomposition appears to explain a relatively fast decomposition (Delta H a(298K) = 19.9 kcal/mol, B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p)) of HOOOH in nonpolar (inert) solvents, which might even compete with the water-assisted decomposition of this simplest of polyoxides (Delta H a(298K) = 18.8 kcal/mol for (H 2O) 2-assisted decomposition) in more polar solvents. The formation of relatively strongly hydrogen-bonded complexes between HOOOH and organic oxygen bases, HOOOH-B (B = acetone and dimethyl ether), strongly retards the decomposition in these bases as solvents, most likely by preventing such a proton transfer.     

Communication: rigorous calculation of dissociation energies (D0) of the water trimer, (H2O)3 and (D2O)3

Using a recent, full-dimensional, ab initio potential energy surface [Y. Wang, X. Huang, B. C. Shepler, B. J. Braams, and J. M. Bowman, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 094509 (2011)] together with rigorous diffusion Monte Carlo calculations of the zero-point energy of the water trimer, we report dissociation energies, D(0), to form one monomer plus the water dimer and three monomers. The calculations make use of essentially exact zero-point energies for the water trimer, dimer, and monomer, and benchmark values of the electronic dissociation energies, D(e), of the water trimer [J. A. Anderson, K. Crager, L. Fedoroff, and G. S. Tschumper, J. Chem. Phys. 121, 11023 (2004)]. The D(0) results are 3855 and 2726 cm(-1) for the 3H(2)O and H(2)O + (H(2)O)(2) dissociation channels, respectively, and 4206 and 2947 cm(-1) for 3D(2)O and D(2)O + (D(2)O)(2) dissociation channels, respectively. The results have estimated uncertainties of 20 and 30 cm(-1) for the monomer plus dimer and three monomer of dissociation channels, respectively.     

The absorption spectrum of water near 750 nm by CW-CRDS: contribution to the search of water dimer absorption

The absorption spectrum of natural water vapour around 750 nm has been recorded with a typical sensitivity of 3 x 10(-10) cm(-1) using a cw cavity ring down spectroscopy set up based on a Ti:sapphire laser. The 13 312.4-13 377.7 cm(-1) spectral interval was chosen as it corresponds to the region where water dimer absorption was recently measured (K. Pfeisticker et al., Science, 2003, 300, 2078-2080). The line parameters (wavenumber and intensity) of a total of 286 lines of water vapor were measured by a one by one fit of the lines to a Voigt profile. For the main water isotopologue, 276 lines were measured with line intensities as weak as 5 x 10(-29) cm molecule(-1)i.e. about 50 times smaller than the weakest H(2)16O line intensities included in the 2004 edition of the HITRAN database. On the basis of the predictions of Schwenke and Partridge, all but 16 lines could be assigned to different isotopologues of water (H(2)16O, H(2)18O, and HD16O) present in natural abundance in the sample. A total of 272 energy levels of H(2)16O were determined and rovibrationally assigned to 18 upper vibrational states. Half of them had not been reported previously. The importance of the additional absorbance resulting from the observation of many new weak lines is discussed in relation to the detection of water dimer absorption and compared to the absorbance predicted by Schwenke and Partridge. The quality of the line parameters of water monomer is shown to be of crucial importance to identify the absorbance of the water dimer in the considered region.     

Ionization and double ionization of small water clusters

The valence ionization and double ionization spectra of the water molecule, of the water dimer, and the cyclic water clusters (H2O)3 and (H2O)4 are calculated by ab initio Green's function methods and discussed in some detail. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the development of the spectra with increasing cluster size. Electronic decay following inner valence ionization is addressed and a crude estimate for the kinetic energy spectrum of the secondary electrons is given for the clusters.     

Kinetics of Water Exchange on the Dihydroxo-Bridged Rhodium(III) Hydrolytic Dimer

()()Conventional (18)O isotopic labeling techniques have been used to measure the water exchange rates on the Rh(III) hydrolytic dimer [(H(2)O)(4)Rh(&mgr;-OH)(2)Rh(H(2)O)(4)](4+) at I = 1.0 M for 0.08 < [H(+)] < 0.8 M and temperatures between 308.1 and 323.1 K. Two distinct pathways of water exchange into the bulk solvent were observed (k(fast) and k(slow)) which are proposed to correspond to exchange of coordinated water at positions cis and trans to bridging hydroxide groups. This proposal is supported by (17)O NMR measurements which clearly showed that the two types of water ligands exchange at different rates and that the rates of exchange matched those from the (18)O labeling data. No evidence was found for the exchange of label in the bridging OH groups in either experiment. This contrasts with findings for the Cr(III) dimer. The dependence of both k(fast) and k(slow) on [H(+)] satisfied the expression k(obs) = (k(O)[H(+)](tot) +k(OH)K(a1))/([H(+)](tot) + K(a1)) which allows for the involvement of fully protonated and monodeprotonated Rh(III) dimer. The following rates and activation parameters were determined at 298 K. (i) For fully protonated dimer: k(fast) = 1.26 x 10(-)(6) s(-)(1) (DeltaH() = 119 +/- 4 kJ mol(-)(1) and DeltaS() = 41 +/- 12 J K(-)(1) mol(-)(1)) and k(slow) = 4.86 x 10(-)(7) s(-)(1) (DeltaH() = 64 +/- 9 kJ mol(-)(1) and DeltaS() = -150 +/- 30 J K(-)(1) mol(-)(1)). (ii) For monodeprotonated dimer: k(fast) = 3.44 x 10(-)(6) s(-)(1) (DeltaH() = 146 +/- 4 kJ mol(-)(1) and DeltaS() = 140 +/- 11 J K(-)(1) mol(-)(1)) and k(slow) = 2.68 x 10(-)(6) s(-)(1) (DeltaH() = 102 +/- 3 kJ mol(-)(1) and DeltaS() = -9 +/- 11 J K(-)(1) mol(-)(1)). Deprotonation of the Rh(III) dimer was found to labilize the primary coordination sphere of the metal ions and thus increase the rate of water exchange at positions cis and trans to bridging hydroxides but not to the same extent as for the Cr(III) dimer. Activation parameters and mechanisms for ligand substitution processes on the Rh(III) dimer are discussed and compared to those for other trivalent metal ions and in particular the Cr(III) dimer.     

Full dimensional (15-dimensional) quantum-dynamical simulation of the protonated water dimer. II. Infrared spectrum and vibrational dynamics

The infrared absorption spectrum of the protonated water dimer (H5O2+) is simulated in full dimensionality (15 dimensional) in the spectral range of 0-4000 cm(-1). The calculations are performed using the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method for propagation of wavepackets. All the fundamentals and several overtones of the vibrational motion are computed. The spectrum of H5O2+ is shaped to a large extent by couplings of the proton-transfer motion to large amplitude fluxional motions of the water molecules, water bending and water-water stretch motions. These couplings are identified and discussed, and the corresponding spectral lines are assigned. The large couplings featured by H5O2+ do not hinder, however, to describe the coupled vibrational motion by well defined simple types of vibration (stretching, bending; etc.) based on well defined modes of vibration, in terms of which the spectral lines are assigned. Comparison of our results to recent experiments and calculations on the system is given. The reported MCTDH IR spectrum is in very good agreement to the recently measured spectrum by Hammer et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 122, 244301 (2005)].     

Thermochemical properties of the ammonia-water ionized dimer probed by ion-molecule reactions

The thermochemical properties of some small clusters such as the (H2O)2*+ dimer have already been investigated by both experimental and theoretical methods. The recent method to selectively prepare the ammonia-water ionized dimer [NH3, H2O]*+ (and not its proton transfer isomer [NH4+, OH*]) allowed us to study its chemical reactivity. This study focuses on the charge and proton transfer pathways: Ion-molecule reactions in the cell of an FT-ICR mass spectrometer were carried out with a range of organic compounds. Examination of the reactivity of the [NH3, H2O]*+ ionized dimer versus ionization energy and proton affinity of the neutral reagents shows a threshold in the reactivity in both instances. This leads to a bracketing of thermochemical properties related to the dimer. From these experiments and in agreement with ab initio calculations, the adiabatic recombination energy of the [NH3, H2O]*+ dimer was evaluated at -9.38 +/- 0.04 eV. The proton affinity bracketing required the reevaluation of two reference gas-phase basicity values. The results, in good agreement with the calculation, lead to an evaluation of the proton affinity of the [NH2*, H2O] dimer at 204.4 +/- 0.9 kcal mol(-1). These two experimental values are respectively related to the ionization energy of NH3*+ and to the proton affinity of NH2* by the difference in single water molecule solvation energies of ionized ammonia, of neutral ammonia, and of the NH2* radical.     

Photoelectron spectroscopic study of simple hydrogen-bonded dimers. I. Supersonic nozzle beam photoelectron spectrometer and the formic-acid dimer

In this paper we describe several characteristics of our supersonic nozzle beam photoelectron spectrometer recently constructed for studying hydrogen-bonded dimers in the gas phase by HeI (58.4 nm) radiation. Using this photoelectron apparatus, we have reinvestigated the HeI photoelectron spectrum of the formic-acid dimer (HCOOH)₂ which is well known as a fairly strong doubly hydrogen-bonded dimer. It was found that the (HCOOH)₂ spectrum deduced here from the spectrum of the monomer—dimer mixture considerably differs from that reported by Carnovale et al. in the region beyond 16.5 eV. New spectral assignments are given for four ionization bands beyond 16.5 eV. It is also indicated that the lower bound of the dissociation energy of (HCOOH)₂⁺ is estimated to be 1.0 ± 0.1 eV from the threshold of the dimer band (11.0 eV) obtained in this experiment. This value is considerably smaller than the value of 1.7 ± 0.2 eV recently reported for the water dimer cation (H₂O)₂⁺.