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Beckmann R, Topolnicki R, Marx D. Deciphering the Impact of Helium Tagging on Flexible Molecules: Probing Microsolvation Effects of Protonated Acetylene by Quantum Configurational Entropy. J Phys Chem A 2023; 127:2460-2471. [PMID: 36917575 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c08967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Helium, the lightest and most weakly interacting noble gas, is well-known for its unsurpassed chemical inertness. In many applications of helium in experimental techniques, such as tagging, messenger, or nanodroplet isolation action spectroscopy of molecules or complexes, it is assumed that the interaction of helium with the respective species, and thus the resulting interaction-induced perturbation, is small enough not to affect their structure and dynamics. Here, we probe the impact of one up to many attached helium atoms on protonated acetylene─an important nonclassical carbocation subject to three-center two-electron bonding in its ground state structure─using highly accurate interaction potentials in conjunction with entropy-based higher-order nonlinear correlation analysis. In particular, using neural network potentials at CCSD(T) accuracy, we disclose the specific structural perturbations due to the tagging of C2H3+ with up to 20 He atoms at a temperature of 1 K. Analysis reveals that microsolvation by helium influences the structure of C2H3+ noticeably, while our investigation of the quantum configurational information entropy additionally shows that correlations between individual orientational degrees of freedom are affected as a function of cluster size. In particular, it is found that the most probable bridge-like structure of the ro-vibrational quantum ground state of C2H3+, which is nonplanar and trans-bent in contrast to the perfectly planar equilibrium structure, becomes increasingly more localized upon adding helium atoms. The remarkably nonlinear behavior of the angular correlations as a function of cluster size is traced back to the buildup of the quantum microsolvation shell that enhances anisotropy up to NHe = 6 while more and more isotropic solvation takes over beyond six. Our approach is general and thus sets the stage to investigate the salient effects on the structure of flexible molecules due to tagging beyond the specific case.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Beckmann
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Rafal Topolnicki
- Dioscuri Center in Topological Data Analysis, Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Śniadeckich 8, Warsaw 00-656, Poland
- Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Wrocław, 50-204 Wrocław, Poland
| | - Dominik Marx
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
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Davies JA, Schran C, Brieuc F, Marx D, Ellis AM. Onset of Rotational Decoupling for a Molecular Ion Solvated in Helium: From Tags to Rings and Shells. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2023; 130:083001. [PMID: 36898117 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.130.083001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Little is known about how rotating molecular ions interact with multiple ^{4}He atoms and how this relates to microscopic superfluidity. Here, we use infrared spectroscopy to investigate ^{4}He_{N}⋯H_{3}O^{+} complexes and find that H_{3}O^{+} undergoes dramatic changes in rotational behavior as ^{4}He atoms are added. We present evidence of clear rotational decoupling of the ion core from the surrounding helium for N>3, with sudden changes in rotational constants at N=6 and 12. In sharp contrast to studies on small neutral molecules microsolvated in helium, accompanying path integral simulations show that an incipient superfluid effect is not needed to account for these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia A Davies
- School of Chemistry, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
| | - Christoph Schran
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Fabien Brieuc
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Dominik Marx
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Andrew M Ellis
- School of Chemistry, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
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DuránCaballero L, Schran C, Brieuc F, Marx D. Neural network interaction potentials for para-hydrogen with flexible molecules. J Chem Phys 2022; 157:074302. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0100953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of molecular impurities in para-hydrogen ( pH2) clusters is key to push forward our understanding of intra- and intermolecular interactions, including their impact on the superfluid response of this bosonic quantum solvent. This includes tagging with only one or very few pH2, the microsolvation regime for intermediate particle numbers, and matrix isolation with many solvent molecules. However, the fundamental coupling between the bosonic pH2 environment and the (ro-)vibrational motion of molecular impurities remains poorly understood. Quantum simulations can, in principle, provide the necessary atomistic insight, but they require very accurate descriptions of the involved interactions. Here, we present a data-driven approach for the generation of impurity⋯ pH2 interaction potentials based on machine learning techniques, which retain the full flexibility of the dopant species. We employ the well-established adiabatic hindered rotor (AHR) averaging technique to include the impact of the nuclear spin statistics on the symmetry-allowed rotational quantum numbers of pH2. Embedding this averaging procedure within the high-dimensional neural network potential (NNP) framework enables the generation of highly accurate AHR-averaged NNPs at coupled cluster accuracy, namely, explicitly correlated coupled cluster single, double, and scaled perturbative triples, CCSD(T*)-F12a/aVTZcp, in an automated manner. We apply this methodology to the water and protonated water molecules as representative cases for quasi-rigid and highly flexible molecules, respectively, and obtain AHR-averaged NNPs that reliably describe the corresponding H2O⋯ pH2 and H3O+⋯ pH2 interactions. Using path integral simulations, we show for the hydronium cation, H3O+, that umbrella-like tunneling inversion has a strong impact on the first and second pH2 microsolvation shells. The automated and data-driven nature of our protocol opens the door to the study of bosonic pH2 quantum solvation for a wide range of embedded impurities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura DuránCaballero
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Christoph Schran
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Fabien Brieuc
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Dominik Marx
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
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Erukala S, Feinberg AJ, Moon CJ, Choi MY, Vilesov AF. Infrared spectroscopy of ions and ionic clusters upon ionization of ethane in helium droplets. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:204306. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0091819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Helium droplets are unique hosts for isolating diverse molecular ions for infrared spectroscopic experiments. Recently, it was found that electron impact ionization of ethylene clusters embedded in helium droplets produces diverse carbocations containing three and four carbon atoms, indicating effective ion–molecule reactions. In this work, similar experiments are reported but with the saturated hydrocarbon precursor of ethane. In distinction to ethylene, no characteristic bands of larger covalently bound carbocations were found, indicating inefficient ion–molecule reactions. Instead, the ionization in helium droplets leads to formation of weaker bound dimers, such as (C2H6)(C2H4)+, (C2H6)(C2H5)+, and (C2H6)(C2H6)+, as well as larger clusters containing several ethane molecules attached to C2H4+, C2H5+, and C2H6+ ionic cores. The spectra of larger clusters resemble those for neutral, neat ethane clusters. This work shows the utility of the helium droplets to study small ionic clusters at ultra-low temperatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Swetha Erukala
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Alexandra J. Feinberg
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Cheol Joo Moon
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
- Research Institute for Green Energy Convergence Technology, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Republic of Korea
| | - Myong Yong Choi
- Core‐Facility Center for Photochemistry and Nanomaterials, Department of Chemistry (BK21 FOUR), Research Institute of Natural Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Republic of Korea
| | - Andrey F. Vilesov
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
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Müller D, Dopfer O. Microsolvation of H 2O +, H 3O +, and CH 3OH 2+ by He in a cryogenic ion trap: structure of solvation shells. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:11222-11233. [PMID: 35481676 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp01192a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Due to the weak interactions of He atoms with neutral molecules and ions, the preparation of size-selected clusters for the spectroscopic characterization of their structures, energies, and large amplitude motions is a challenging task. Herein, we generate H2O+Hen (n ≤ 9) and H3O+Hen (n ≤ 5) clusters by stepwise addition of He atoms to mass-selected ions stored in a cryogenic 22-pole ion trap held at 5 K. The population of the clusters as a function of n provides insight into the structure of the first He solvation shell around these ions given by the anisotropy of the cation-He interaction potential. To rationalize the observed cluster size distributions, the structural, energetic, and vibrational properties of the clusters are characterized by ab initio calculations up to the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ level. The cluster growth around both the open-shell H2O+ and closed-shell H3O+ ions begins by forming nearly linear and equivalent OH⋯He hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) leading to symmetric structures. The strength of these H-bonds decreases slightly with n due to noncooperative three-body induction forces and is weaker for H3O+ than for H2O+ due to both enhanced charge delocalization and reduced acidity of the OH protons. After filling all available H-bonded sites, addition of further He ligands around H2O+ (n = 3-4) occurs at the electrophilic singly occupied 2pz orbital of O leading to O⋯He p-bonds stabilized by induction and small charge transfer from H2O+ to He. As this orbital is filled for H3O+, He atoms occupy in the n = 4-6 clusters positions between the H-bonded He atoms, leading to a slightly distorted regular hexagon ring for n = 6. Comparison between H3O+Hen and CH3OH2+Hen illustrates that CH3 substitution substantially reduces the acidity of the OH protons, so that only clusters up to n = 2 can be observed. The structure of the solvation sub-shells is visible in both the binding energies and the predicted vibrational OH stretch and bend frequencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Müller
- Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Otto Dopfer
- Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
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