Simultaneous Sensing of H2O,D2O and HOD through Peroxo Vibrations

Detection of HOD simultaneously in the presence of a mixture of H₂O and D₂O is still an experimental challenge. Till date, there is no literature report of simultaneous detection of H₂O, D₂O and HOD based on vibrational spectra. Herein we report simultaneous quantitative detection of H₂O, D₂O and HOD in the same reaction mixture with the help of bridged polynuclear peroxo complex in absence and presence of Au nanoparticles on the basis of a peroxide vibrational mode in resonance Raman and surface enhanced resonance Raman spectrum. We synthesize bridged polynuclear peroxo complex in different solvent mixture of H₂O and D₂O. Due to the formation of different nature of hydrogen bonding between peroxide and solvent molecules (H₂O, D₂O and HOD), vibrational frequency of peroxo bond is significantly affected. Mixtures of different H₂O and D₂O concentrations produce different HOD concentrations and that lead to different intensities of peaks positioned at 897, 823 and 867 cm^?1 indicating H₂O, D₂O and HOD, respectively. The lowest detection limits (LODs) were 0.028 mole fraction of D₂O in H₂O and 0.046 mole faction of H₂O in D₂O. In addition, for the first time the results revealed that the cis-peroxide forms two hydrogen bonds with solvent molecules.