PNNL

Abstract

ab initio electronic structure theories applied to cluster models support the characterization of the signature of the OH absorption spectrum to be a solvent-to-solute charge transfer state affected by the hydrogen bonding environment in the region of 250 nm (calculated). The vertical excited states were calculated at the TDDFT level of theory with using OH(H2O)n clusters (n = 0-7, 16) with companion calculations at the EOM-CCSD level of theory for n = 7. An intense solvent-to-solute charge transfer transition was calculated for n = 16 cluster where the donor and acceptor molecular orbitals are in favorable alignment. In the other smaller clusters the transitions in this region were found to be weak. The present findings are consistent with the experimental absorption at 230 nm suggested to be a solvent-to-solute charge transfer and provide insight into the electronic states and orbitals that give rise to the intensity of the band. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences program, and was performed in part using the Molecular Science Computing Facility (MSCF) in the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE national scientific user facility located at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is operated by Battelle for DOE.