Deconstructing water’s diffuse OH stretching vibrational spectrum with cold clusters

Abstract

The diffuse vibrational envelope displayed by water precludes direct observation of how different hydrogen-bond topologies dictate the spectral response of individual hydroxy group (OH) oscillators. Using cold, isotopically labeled cluster ions, we report the spectral signatures of a single, intact water (H₂O) molecule embedded at various sites in the clathrate-like cage structure adopted by the Cs⁺·(D₂O)₂₀ ion. These patterns reveal the site-dependent correlation between the frequencies of the two OH groups on the same water molecule and establish that the bound OH companion of the free OH group exclusively accounts for bands in the lower-energy region of the spectrum. The observed multiplet structures reveal the homogeneous linewidths of the fundamentals and quantify the anharmonic contributions arising from coupling to both the intramolecular bending and intermolecular soft modes.