Water clusters: Untangling the mysteries of the liquid, one molecule at a time

doi:10.1073/pnas.191266498

Water clusters: Untangling the mysteries of the liquid, one molecule at a time

Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1460

Contributed by Richard J. Saykally

Abstract

Extensive terahertz laser vibration-rotation-tunneling spectra and mid-IR laser spectra have been compiled for several isotopomers of small (dimer through hexamer) water clusters. These data, in conjunction with new theoretical advances, quantify the structures, force fields, dipole moments, and hydrogen bond rearrangement dynamics in these clusters. This new information permits us to systematically untangle the intricacies associated with cooperative hydrogen bonding and promises to lead to a more complete molecular description of the liquid and solid phases of water, including an accurate universal force field.

Footnotes

↵ * Present address: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
↵ † To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: saykally{at}uclink4.berkeley.edu.
This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected on April 27, 1999.
Abbreviations:

VRT,

vibration-rotation-tunneling;

FIR,

far-IR;

ASP,

anisotropic site potential;

IPS,

intermolecular potential surface