Correction to "Orientation of Methylguanidinium Ions at the Water-Air Interface"

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b03752.].

Orientation of Methylguanidinium Ions at the Water-Air Interface

We use heterodyne-detected vibrational sum-frequency generation (HD-VSFG) to determine the orientation of the molecular plane of methylguanidinium ions at the surface of aqueous solutions. We measure the VSFG response of the symmetric and antisymmetric methyl stretch vibrations of the methylguanidinium ion with different polarization combinations. We find that for at least 50% of the methylguanidinium ions the molecular plane is at an angle >20° with respect to the surface plane. Hence, for only a minor fraction of the ions does the molecular plane have an orientation (near-)parallel to the surface plane, in contrast to the predictions of recent molecular dynamics simulation studies.

Vibrational Relaxation of the Aqueous Proton in Acetonitrile: Ultrafast Cluster Cooling and Vibrational Predissociation

We study the ultrafast O-H stretch vibrational relaxation dynamics of protonated water clusters embedded in a matrix of deuterated acetonitrile, using polarization-resolved mid-IR femtosecond spectroscopy. The clusters are produced by mixing triflic (trifluoromethanesulfonic) acid and H2O in molar ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3, thus varying the degree of hydration of the proton. At all hydration levels the excited O-H stretch vibration of the hydrated proton shows an ultrafast vibrational relaxation with a time constant T1 < 100 fs, leading to an ultrafast local heating of the protonated water cluster. This excess thermal energy, initially highly localized to the region of the excited proton, first re-distributes over the aqueous cluster and then dissipates into the surrounding acetonitrile matrix. For clusters with a triflic acid to H2O ratio of 1:3 these processes occur with time constants of 320 ± 20 fs and 1.4 ± 0.1 ps, respectively. The cooling of the clusters reveals a long-living, underlying transient absorption change with high anisotropy. We argue that this feature stems from the vibrational predissociation of a small fraction of the proton hydration structures, directly following the ultrafast infrared excitation.

Conformation of the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid in liquid water

A combined dielectric and mid-IR pump–probe spectroscopic study reveals zwitterionic GABA to exist in predominately extended conformations in liquid water.