skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Decoding the 2D IR spectrum of the aqueous proton with high-level VSCF/VCI calculations

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0020279· OSTI ID:1761055

The aqueous proton is a common and long-studied species in chemistry, yet there is currently intense interest devoted to understanding its hydration structure and transport dynamics. Typically described in terms of two limiting structures observed in gas-phase clusters, the Zundel H5O2+ and Eigen H9O4+ ions, the aqueous structure is less clear due to the heterogeneity of hydrogen bonding environments and room-temperature structural fluctuations in water. The linear infrared (IR) spectrum, which reports on structural configurations, is challenging to interpret because it appears as a continuum of absorption, and the underlying vibrational modes are strongly anharmonically coupled to each other. Recent two-dimensional IR (2D IR) experiments presented strong evidence for asymmetric Zundel-like motifs in solution, but true structure–spectrum correlations are missing and complicated by the anharmonicity of the system. In this study, we employ high-level vibrational self-consistent field/virtual state configuration interaction calculations to demonstrate that the 2D IR spectrum reports on a broad distribution of geometric configurations of the aqueous proton. We find that the diagonal 2D IR spectrum around 1200 cm–1 is dominated by the proton stretch vibrations of Zundel-like and intermediate geometries, broadened by the heterogeneity of aqueous configurations. There is a wide distribution of multidimensional potential shapes for the proton stretching vibration with varying degrees of potential asymmetry and confinement. In conclusion, we find specific cross peak patterns due to aqueous Zundel-like species. These studies provide clarity on highly debated spectral assignments and stringent spectroscopic benchmarks for future simulations.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0014305; CHE-1463552
OSTI ID:
1761055
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1664558
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 153, Issue 12; ISSN 0021-9606
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (74)

Disentangling the Complex Vibrational Spectrum of the Protonated Water Trimer, H + (H 2 O) 3 , with Two-Color IR-IR Photodissociation of the Bare Ion and Anharmonic VSCF/VCI Theory journal August 2017
Beyond Badger’s Rule: The Origins and Generality of the Structure–Spectra Relationship of Aqueous Hydrogen Bonds journal February 2019
IR spectral assignments for the hydrated excess proton in liquid water journal April 2017
Dynamics of water probed with vibrational echo correlation spectroscopy journal January 2004
Electric Field Fluctuations Drive Vibrational Dephasing in Water journal October 2005
Role of Charge Transfer in the Structure and Dynamics of the Hydrated Proton journal April 2009
The Structure of the Hydrogen Ion (H aq + ) in Water journal February 2010
Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Solvation and Transport of H3O+ and OH- Ions in Water journal April 1995
Ultrafast 2D IR spectroscopy of the excess proton in liquid water journal October 2015
Infrared Signature of Structures Associated with the H+(H2O)n (n = 6 to 27) Clusters journal May 2004
Polarization-selective third-order spectroscopy of coupled vibronic states journal July 2001
A Theory of Water and Ionic Solution, with Particular Reference to Hydrogen and Hydroxyl Ions journal August 1933
Water vibrations have strongly mixed intra- and intermolecular character journal September 2013
The nature of the hydrated excess proton in water journal February 1999
Classical, Thermostated Ring Polymer, and Quantum VSCF/VCI Calculations of IR Spectra of H 7 O 3 + and H 9 O 4 + (Eigen) and Comparison with Experiment journal November 2018
Benchmark Electronic Structure Calculations for H 3 O + (H 2 O) n , n = 0–5, Clusters and Tests of an Existing 1,2,3-Body Potential Energy Surface with a New 4-Body Correction journal August 2018
Large-amplitude transfer motion of hydrated excess protons mapped by ultrafast 2D IR spectroscopy journal July 2017
Communication: VSCF/VCI vibrational spectroscopy of H 7 O 3 + and H 9 O 4 + using high-level, many-body potential energy surface and dipole moment surfaces journal March 2017
Entropic barriers in the kinetics of aqueous proton transfer journal July 2019
Infrared spectra of the solvated hydronium ion: Vibrational predissociation spectroscopy of mass-selected H3O+.cntdot.(H2O)n.cntdot.(H2)m journal May 1990
Differences in the Vibrational Dynamics of H 2 O and D 2 O: Observation of Symmetric and Antisymmetric Stretching Vibrations in Heavy Water journal April 2016
Decomposition of the Experimental Raman and Infrared Spectra of Acidic Water into Proton, Special Pair, and Counterion Contributions journal October 2017
Broadband 2D IR spectroscopy reveals dominant asymmetric H5O2+ proton hydration structures in acid solutions journal July 2018
Ultrafast Hydrogen-Bond Dynamics in the Infrared Spectroscopy of Water journal September 2003
Hydroxide diffuses slower than hydronium in water because its solvated structure inhibits correlated proton transfer journal March 2018
Dual-frequency 2D IR photon echo of a hydrogen bond journal February 2005
Ultrafast vibrational relaxation of O–H bending and librational excitations in liquid H2O journal March 2005
A bond-order analysis of the mechanism for hydrated proton mobility in liquid water journal January 2005
The Role of Quantum Effects on Structural and Electronic Fluctuations in Neat and Charged Water journal November 2014
Spectral Signatures of Hydrated Proton Vibrations in Water Clusters journal June 2005
Energiebänder der tunnelnden Überschuß-Protonen in flüssigen Säuren. Eine IR-spektroskopische Untersuchung der Natur der Gruppierungen H 5 O 2 + journal April 1968
MDTraj: A Modern Open Library for the Analysis of Molecular Dynamics Trajectories journal October 2015
Special Pair Dance and Partner Selection: Elementary Steps in Proton Transport in Liquid Water journal August 2008
Nonlinear two-dimensional vibrational spectroscopy of peptides journal September 2002
Role of Presolvation and Anharmonicity in Aqueous Phase Hydrated Proton Solvation and Transport journal November 2015
Snapshots of Proton Accommodation at a Microscopic Water Surface: Understanding the Vibrational Spectral Signatures of the Charge Defect in Cryogenically Cooled H + (H 2 O) n =2–28 Clusters journal July 2015
Sustainable hydrocarbon fuels by recycling CO 2 and H 2 O with renewable or nuclear energy journal January 2011
Hydrated Excess Protons in Acetonitrile/Water Mixtures: Solvation Species and Ultrafast Proton Motions journal April 2019
High-Level VSCF/VCI Calculations Decode the Vibrational Spectrum of the Aqueous Proton journal July 2019
The vibrational spectrum of the hydrated proton: Comparison of experiment, simulation, and normal mode analysis journal January 2002
Gas-Phase Infrared Spectrum of the Protonated Water Dimer journal February 2003
Full-dimensional (15-dimensional) quantum-dynamical simulation of the protonated water dimer. I. Hamiltonian setup and analysis of the ground vibrational state journal November 2007
Proton Transfer, Acid-Base Catalysis, and Enzymatic Hydrolysis. Part I: ELEMENTARY PROCESSES journal January 1964
Vibrational conical intersections in the water dimer journal April 2013
Vibrational spectroscopy of the hydrated hydronium cluster ions H 3 O + ⋅(H 2 O) n ( n =1, 2, 3) journal December 1989
The Hydrated Excess Proton in the Zundel Cation H 5 O 2 + : The Role of Ultrafast Solvent Fluctuations journal July 2016
Tracking Hydronium/Water Stretches in Magic H 3 O + (H 2 O) 20 Clusters through High-level Quantum VSCF/VCI Calculations journal January 2020
Über den Zustand des Protons (Hydroniumions) in wäßriger Lösung* journal June 1954
Quantum Local Monomer IR Spectrum of Liquid D 2 O at 300 K from 0 to 4000 cm –1 Is in Near-Quantitative Agreement with Experiment journal March 2016
Quantum approaches to vibrational dynamics and spectroscopy: is ease of interpretation sacrificed as rigor increases? journal January 2019
Gas phase infrared spectra of oxonium hydrate ions from 2 to 5 μ journal December 1977
Proton-Induced Conformational and Hydration Dynamics in the Influenza A M2 Channel journal June 2019
Coherent 2D IR Spectroscopy:  Molecular Structure and Dynamics in Solution journal July 2003
Apparent Stoichiometry of Water in Proton Hydration and Proton Dehydration Reactions in CH 3 CN/H 2 O Solutions journal April 2011
Protons and Hydroxide Ions in Aqueous Systems journal April 2016
Water Dynamics and Proton Transfer in Nafion Fuel Cell Membranes journal April 2008
Permutationally Invariant Potential Energy Surfaces journal April 2018
Decoding the spectroscopic features and time scales of aqueous proton defects journal June 2018
Resolving Heterogeneous Dynamics of Excess Protons in Aqueous Solution with Rate Theory journal June 2020
Multistate Reactive Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Proton Diffusion in Water Clusters and in the Bulk journal October 2019
Multidimensional infrared spectroscopy of water. I. Vibrational dynamics in two-dimensional IR line shapes journal November 2006
Full dimensional (15-dimensional) quantum-dynamical simulation of the protonated water dimer. II. Infrared spectrum and vibrational dynamics journal November 2007
Understanding and Tracking the Excess Proton in Ab Initio Simulations; Insights from IR Spectra journal June 2020
Multidimensional infrared spectroscopy of water. II. Hydrogen bond switching dynamics journal November 2006
Isomer-Selective Detection of Hydrogen-Bond Vibrations in the Protonated Water Hexamer journal May 2013
High-Level Quantum Calculations of the IR Spectra of the Eigen, Zundel, and Ring Isomers of H + (H 2 O) 4 Find a Single Match to Experiment journal August 2017
MULTIMODE: A code to calculate rovibrational energies of polyatomic molecules journal July 2003
Correlated dynamics in aqueous proton diffusion journal January 2018
Coupling Protein Dynamics with Proton Transport in Human Carbonic Anhydrase II journal April 2016
Prospects of CO2 Utilization via Direct Heterogeneous Electrochemical Reduction journal December 2010
Infrared Spectrum of the Hydrated Proton in Water journal December 2010
Picosecond Proton Transfer Kinetics in Water Revealed with Ultrafast IR Spectroscopy journal February 2018
Tracking Aqueous Proton Transfer by Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy and ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations journal May 2019
Anharmonic exciton dynamics and energy dissipation in liquid water from two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy journal September 2016

Similar Records

High-Level VSCF/VCI Calculations Decode the Vibrational Spectrum of the Aqueous Proton
Journal Article · Tue Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry · OSTI ID:1761055

IR spectral assignments for the hydrated excess proton in liquid water
Journal Article · Fri Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Chemical Physics · OSTI ID:1761055

Molecular modeling and assignment of IR spectra of the hydrated excess proton in isotopically dilute water
Journal Article · Wed Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Chemical Physics · OSTI ID:1761055