PNNL

Abstract

We report the study of microsolvated CN-(H2O)n (n = 1-5) clusters in the gas phase using a combination of experimental and computational approaches. The hydrated cyanide clusters were produced by electrospray and their structural and energetic properties were probed using temperature-controlled photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and ab initio electronic structure calculations. Comparison between the low temperature (T = 12 K) and the room-temperature (RT) spectra shows a 0.25 eV spectral blue shift in the binding energy of the n = 1 cluster and a significant spectral sharpening and blue shift for n = 2 and 3. The experimental results are complemented with ab initio electronic structure calculations at the MP2 and CCSD(T) levels of theory that identified several isomers on the ground state potential energy function (PEF) arising from the ability of CN- to form hydrogen bonds with water via both the C and N ends. In all cases the N end seems to be the preferred hydration site. The excellent agreement between the low temperature measured PES spectra and the basis set- and correlation-corrected (at the CCSD(T) level of theory) calculated vertical detachment energies, viz. 3.85 vs. 3.84 eV (n = 0), 4.54 vs. 4.54 eV (n = 1), 5.20 vs. 5.32 eV (n = 2), 5.58 vs. 5.50 eV (n = 3) and 5.89 vs. 5.87 eV (n = 4), allow us to firmly establish the global minimum structures for all the hydrated cyanide clusters. The microsolvation pattern was found to be similar to the halide anions (Cl-, Br- and I-), adopting structures in which CN- resides on the surface of a water network. While at T = 12 K the clusters adopt structures that are close to the minimum energy configurations, at room temperature it is expected that other isomers (lying within ~0.6 kcal/mol above the global minima) are also populated, resulting in the broadening of the PES spectra.