Ab initio investigation of vibrational spectra of water-(CO2)n complexes (n = 1, 2)

In this paper, we have calculated using the ab initio method the IR vibrational spectra of complexes of CO2 formed with water (sp3 O-donating atom). Binding energies and structures of the CO2-H2O and water-(CO2)2 complexes have been determined at the second-order level of the Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) using Dunning's basis sets. The results are presented and critically discussed in terms of the nature of the water-CO2 interactions, electron donor acceptor (EDA) and weak O...H-O interactions. For water-(CO2)2 trimer, it is also shown that the contribution to the interaction energy of the irreducible three-bodies remains relatively negligible. We have analyzed the frequency shifts and the IR and Raman intensity variations under the complex formation. We have particularly emphasized the splitting of the 2 bending mode of CO2 and stretching modes of water, which have been revealed as the most pertinent probes to assess the nature of the forces involved in the different complexes. Finally, because water can play the role of Lewis base and acid as well, we found that weak O...H-O interactions can cooperate with EDA interactions in trimer, leading to very specific spectral signatures that are further discussed.