Concerted hydrogen-bond breaking by quantum tunneling in the water hexamer prism

The nature of the intermolecular forces between water molecules is the same in small hydrogen-bonded clusters as in the bulk. The rotational spectra of the clusters therefore give insight into the intermolecular forces present in liquid water and ice. The water hexamer is the smallest water cluster...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2016-03, Vol.351 (6279), p.1310-1313
Main Authors: Richardson, Jeremy O., Pérez, Cristóbal, Lobsiger, Simon, Reid, Adam A., Temelso, Berhane, Shields, George C., Kisiel, Zbigniew, Wales, David J., Pate, Brooks H., Althorpe, Stuart C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Hydrogen bonds
Molecules
Quantum physics
Water
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Summary:The nature of the intermolecular forces between water molecules is the same in small hydrogen-bonded clusters as in the bulk. The rotational spectra of the clusters therefore give insight into the intermolecular forces present in liquid water and ice. The water hexamer is the smallest water cluster to support low-energy structures with branched three-dimensional hydrogen-bond networks, rather than cyclic two-dimensional topologies. Here we report measurements of splitting patterns in rotational transitions of the water hexamer prism, and we used quantum simulations to show that they result from geared and antigeared rotations of a pair of water molecules. Unlike previously reported tunneling motions in water clusters, the geared motion involves the concerted breaking of two hydrogen bonds. Similar types of motion may be feasible in interfacial and confined water.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aae0012