The structure of the Calix[4]arene-(H2O) Cluster: The World’s Smallest Cup of Water
The structure of the calix[4]arene(C4A)-(H2O) cluster formed in a supersonic beam has been investigated by mass-selected resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) spectroscopy, IR-UV double resonance spectroscopy, IR photodissociation (IRPD) spectroscopy and by high level quantum chemical calculations. The IR-UV double resonance spectrum of C4A-(H2O) exhibits a broad and strong hydrogen-bonded OH stretching band at 3160 cm-1 and a weak asymmetric OH stretching band at 3700 cm-1. The IRPD measurement of the cluster produced a value of 3140 cm-1 for the C4A-(H2O) → C4A + H2O dissociation energy. High level electronic structure calculations at the MP2 level of theory with basis sets up to quadruple zeta quality suggest that the endo-isomer (water inside the C4A cavity) is ~1100 cm-1 more stable than the exo-isomer (water hydrogen bonded to the rim of C4A). The endo-isomer has a best-computed (at the MP2/aug-cc-pVQZ level) value of 3127 cm-1 for the binding energy, just ~15 cm-1 shy of the experimentally determined threshold and an IR spectrum in excellent agreement with the experimentally observed one. In contrast, the B3LYP density functional fails to even predict a stable structure for the endo-isomer demonstrating the inability of that level of theory to describe the delicate balance between structures exhibiting cumulative OH-π H-bonding and dipole-dipole interactions (endo-isomer) when compared to the ones emanating from maximizing the cooperative effects associated with the formation of hydrogen bonded homodromic networks (exo-isomer). The comparison of the experimental results with the ones from high level electronic structure calculations therefore unambiguously assign the endo-isomer as the global minimum of the C4A-(H2O) cluster, world’s smallest cup of water. Part of this work is supported by the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy. Battelle operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. This research was performed in part using the Molecular Science Computing Facility (MSCF) in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 979477
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-67484; 20901; KC0301020; TRN: US201010%%704
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 114(9):2967-2972, Vol. 114, Issue 9
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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