Interaction of acetonitrile with thin films of solid water

Rapid crystallization of amorphous solid water by porosity induction

Rapid crystallization of amorphous solid water via acetonitrile diffusion–desorption induced porosity in the window of 128–134 K under ultrahigh vacuum.

Using Surface Science Techniques to Investigate the Interaction of Acetonitrile with Dust Grain Analogue Surfaces : Behaviour of acetonitrile and water on a graphitic surface

Surface science methodologies, such as reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD), are ideally suited to studying the interaction of molecules with model astrophysical surfaces. Here we describe the use of RAIRS and TPD to investigate the adsorption, interactions and thermal processing of acetonitrile and water containing model ices grown under astrophysical conditions on a graphitic dust grain analogue surface. Experiments show that acetonitrile physisorbs on the graphitic surface at all exposures. At the lowest coverages, repulsions between the molecules lead to a decreasing desorption energy with increasing coverage. Analysis of TPD data gives monolayer desorption energies ranging from 28.8‐39.2 kJ mol−1 and an average multilayer desorption energy of 43.8 kJ mol−1. When acetonitrile is adsorbed in the presence of water ice, the desorption energy of monolayer acetonitrile shows evidence of desorption with a wide range of energies. An estimate of the desorption energy of acetonitrile from crystalline ice (CI) shows that it is increased to ~37 kJ mol−1 at the lowest exposures of acetonitrile. Amorphous water ice also traps acetonitrile on the graphite surface past its natural desorption temperature, leading to volcano and co-desorption. RAIRS data show that the C≡N vibration shifts, indicative of an interaction between the acetonitrile and the water ice surface.

Interactions of methanol, ethanol, and 1-propanol with polar and nonpolar species in water at cryogenic temperatures

Methanol is known as a strong inhibitor of hydrate formation, but clathrate hydrates of ethanol and 1-propanol can be formed in the presence of help gases. To elucidate the hydrophilic and hydrophobic effects of alcohols, their interactions with simple solute species are investigated in glassy, liquid, and crystalline water using temperature-programmed desorption and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. Nonpolar solute species embedded underneath amorphous solid water films are released during crystallization, but they tend to withstand water crystallization under the coexistence of methanol additives. The CO₂ additives are released after crystallization along with methanol desorption. These results suggest strongly that nonpolar species that are hydrated (i.e., caged) associatively with methanol can withstand water crystallization. In contrast, ethanol and 1-propanol additives weakly affect the dehydration of nonpolar species during water crystallization, suggesting that the former tend to be caged separately from the latter. The hydrophilic vs. hydrophobic behavior of alcohols, which differs according to the aliphatic group length, also manifests itself in the different abilities of surface segregation of alcohols and their effects on the water crystallization kinetics.

Insights into hydrogen bonding via ice interfaces and isolated water

Water in a confined environment has a combination of fewer available configurations and restricted mobility. Both affect the spectroscopic signature. In this work, the spectroscopic signature of water in confined environments is discussed in the context of competing models for condensed water: (1) as a system of intramolecular coupled molecules or (2) as a network with intermolecular dipole-dipole coupled O-H stretches. Two distinct environments are used: the confined asymmetric environment at the ice surface and the near-isolated environment of water in an infrared transparent matrix. Both the spectroscopy and the environment are described followed by a perspective discussion of implications for the two competing models. Despite being a small molecule, water is relatively complex; perhaps not surprisingly the results support a model that blends inter- and intramolecular coupling. The frequency, and therefore the hydrogen-bond strength, appears to be a function of donor-acceptor interaction and of longer-range dipole-dipole alignment in the hydrogen-bonded network. The O-H dipole direction depends on the local environment and reflects intramolecular O-H stretch coupling.

X-ray Raman scattering provides evidence for interfacial acetonitrile-water dipole interactions in aqueous solutions

Aqueous solutions of acetonitrile (MeCN) have been studied with oxygen K-edge x-ray Raman scattering (XRS) which is found to be sensitive to the interaction between water and MeCN. The changes in the XRS spectra can be attributed to water directly interacting with MeCN and are reproduced by density functional theory calculations on small clusters of water and MeCN. The dominant structural arrangement features dipole interaction instead of H-bonds between the two species as revealed by the XRS spectra combined with spectrum calculations. Small-angle x-ray scattering shows the largest heterogeneity for a MeCN to water ratio of 0.4 in agreement with earlier small-angle neutron scattering data.

Some fundamental properties and reactions of ice surfaces at low temperatures

Ice surfaces offer a unique chemical environment in which reactions occur quite differently from those in liquid water or gas phases. In this article, we examine the basic properties of ice surfaces below the surface premelting temperature and discuss some of the recent investigations carried out on reactions at the ice surfaces. The static and dynamic properties of an ice surface as a reaction medium, such as its structure, molecule diffusion and proton transfer dynamics, and the surface preference of hydronium and hydroxide ions, are discussed in relation to the reactivity of the surface.