Can sulfur-containing molecules solvate/ionize HCl? Solid state solvation of HCl on/in methanethiol clusters/nanoparticles.

Solvation of HCl at <100 K at the surface of nanoparticles of methanethiol, a sulfur derivative of methanol, was investigated by FTIR spectroscopy and on-the-fly molecular dynamics as implemented in the density functional code QUICKSTEP (which is part of the CP2K package). Some of the results have been further checked with MP2-level ab initio calculations. Unlike the HCl-CH3OH system that has been examined before, HCl on the surface or within methanethiol nanoparticles does not achieve an ionized form. Requirements for acid solvation/ionization are discussed in context with the results for methanol clusters.

NH3 as simple clathrate-hydrate catalyst: Experiment and theory.

The catalytic action of NH3 within the all-vapor approach for instant clathrate hydrate (CH) formation is studied using both FTIR spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. A unique property of NH3, namely, the rapid abundant penetration and occupation of the water network, creates defects, particularly Bjerrum D-defects, in the hydrate frame that are generally stabilized by guest NH3 molecules in the cages. Furthermore, insertion of NH3 seriously disturbs the hydrate network where the guest NH3 molecules also make fluxional H-bonds with the host water molecules. These defects strongly facilitate a sub-second formation of the simple NH3 s-II gas hydrate at 160 K. FTIR spectra of aerosols of the NH3 s-II CH have been measured, and the displacement of both small and large cage NH3 guests by CO2 and tetrahydrofuran is examined.

A detailed hydrogen bonding analysis on the compositions of H2SO4/HNO3/H2O ternary systems: A computational study.

Hydrogen bonding properties of H2SO4/HNO3/H2O ternary molecular clusters have been studied by means of structural, energetic, topological, and spectroscopic perspectives. The roles of the hydrogen bonds in the formation of these clusters are considered according to the molecule positions (proton donor or proton acceptor) in the clusters. 33 stable conformers were identified on the potential energy surface. The global minimum one was obtained when HNO3 donates a proton to H2SO4, however, the cooperativity effect contribution was found to be significant for the cluster where HNO3 acts as a proton donor to an H2O molecule.

Hydrogen-bonding behavior of various conformations of the HNO3 (CH3OH)2 ternary system.

Nine minima were found on the intermolecular potential energy surface for the ternary system HNO3(CH3OH)2 at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory. The cooperative effect, which is a measure of the hydrogen-bonding strength, was probed in these nine conformations of HNO3…(CH3OH)2. The results are discussed here in terms of structures, energetics, infrared vibrational frequencies, and topological parameters. The cooperative effect was observed to be an important contributor to the total interaction energies of the cyclic conformers of HNO3…(CH3OH)2, meaning that it cannot be neglected in simulations in which the pair-additive potential is applied. Graphical abstract The H-bonding behavior of various conformations of the HNO3(CH3OH)2 trimer was investigated.

NH3 as unique non-classical content-former within clathrate hydrates.

High quality FTIR spectra of aerosols of NH3-THF and NH3-TMO binary clathrate hydrates (CHs) have been measured. Our recently developed all-vapor sub-second approach to clathrate-hydrate formation combined with computational studies has been used to identify vibrational spectroscopic signatures of NH3 within the gas hydrates. The present study shows that there are three distinct NH3 types, namely, classical small-cage NH3, nonclassical small-cage NH3, and NH3 within the hydrate network. The network ammonia does not directly trigger the non-classical CH structure. Rather, the ammonia within the network structure perturbs the water bonding, introducing orientational defects that are stabilized by small and/or large cage guest molecules through H-bonding. This unusual behavior of NH3 within CHs opens a possibility for catalytic action of NH3 during CH-formation. Furthermore, impacts over time of the small-cage NH3-replacement molecules CO2 and CH4 on the structure and composition of the ternary CHs have been noted.

Molecular Modes and Dynamics of HCl and DCl Guests of Gas Clathrate Hydrates.

Recent years have yielded advances in the placement of unusual molecules as guests within clathrate hydrates (CHs) without severe distortion of the classic lattice structures. Reports describing systems for which observable but limited distortion does occur are available for methanol, ammonia, acetone, and small ether molecules. In these particular examples, the large-cage molecules often participate as non-classical guests H-bonded to the cage walls. Here, we expand the list of such components to include HCl/DCl and HBr as small-cage guests. Based on FTIR spectra of nanocrystalline CHs from two distinct preparative methods combined with critical insights derived from on-the-fly molecular dynamics and ab initio computational data, a coherent argument emerges that these strong acids serve as a source of molecular small-cage guests, ions, and orientational defects. Depending on the HCl/DCl content the ions, defects and molecular guests determine the CH structures, some of which form in sub-seconds via an all-vapor preparative method.

CO2 and C2H2 in cold nanodroplets of oxygenated organic molecules and water.

Recent demonstrations of subsecond and microsecond timescales for formation of clathrate hydrate nanocrystals hint at future methods of control of environmental and industrial gases such as CO2 and methane. Combined results from cold-chamber and supersonic-nozzle [A. S. Bhabhe, "Experimental study of condensation and freezing in a supersonic nozzle," Ph.D. thesis (Ohio State University, 2012), Chap. 7] experiments indicate extremely rapid encagement of components of all-vapor pre-mixtures. The extreme rates are derived from (a) the all-vapor premixing of the gas-hydrate components and (b) catalytic activity of certain oxygenated organic large-cage guests. Premixing presents no obvious barrier to large-scale conditions of formation. Further, from sequential efforts of the groups of Trout and Buch, a credible defect-based model of the catalysis mechanism exists for guidance. Since the catalyst-generated defects are both mobile and abundant, it is often unnecessary for a high percentage of the cages to be occupied by a molecular catalyst. Droplets represent the liquid phase that bridges the premixed vapor and clathrate hydrate phases but few data exist for the droplets themselves. Here we describe a focused computational and FTIR spectroscopic effort to characterize the aerosol droplets of the all-vapor cold-chamber methodology. Computational data for CO2 and C2H2, hetero-dimerized with each of the organic catalysts and water, closely match spectroscopic redshift patterns in both magnitude and direction. Though vibrational frequency shifts are an order of magnitude greater for the acetylene stretch mode, both CO2 and C2H2 experience redshift values that increase from that for an 80% water-methanol solvent through the solvent series to approximately doubled values for tetrahydrofuran and trimethylene oxide (TMO) droplets. The TMO solvent properties extend to a 50 mol.% solution of CO2, more than an order of magnitude greater than for the water-methanol solvent mixture. The impressive agreement between heterodimer and experimental shift values throughout the two series encourages speculation concerning local droplet structures while the stable shift patterns appear to be useful indicators of the gas solubilities.

Communication: Fourier-transform infrared probing of remarkable quantities of gas trapped in cold homogeneously nucleated nanodroplets.

Studies of catalyzed all-vapor gas-hydrate formation on a sub-second timescale have been extended with a special focus on liquid-droplet compositions at the instant of hydrate crystallization. This focus has been enabled by inclusion of methanol in the all-vapor mixture. This slows droplet to gas-hydrate conversion near 200 K to a time scale suited for standard FTIR sampling. Such droplet data are sought as a guide to ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of guest catalyst required for instant formation of the gas hydrates. For the same reason, all-vapor sampling has also been extended to the generation of long-lived liquid droplets with reduced or no water content. Observations of single-solvent droplets show that surprising quantities of gas molecules are trapped during rapid droplet growth. For example, CO2 is trapped at levels near 50 mol. % in droplets of acetone, tetrahydrofuran, or trimethylene oxide formed under CO2 pressures of several Torr in a cold-chamber at 170 K. Less but significant amounts of gas are trapped at higher temperatures, or in methanol or water-methanol droplets. The droplet metastability appears to commonly lead to formation of bubbles larger than the original nanodroplets. Besides serving as a guide for the all-vapor gas-hydrate studies, the semiquantitative evidence of extensive trapping of gases is expected to have a role in future studies of atmospheric aerosols.

Tracking all-vapor instant gas-hydrate formation and guest molecule populations: a possible probe for molecules trapped in water nanodroplets.

Quantitative Fourier-transform infrared spectra for low-temperature (160-200 K) aerosols of clathrate-hydrate nanoparticles that contain large-cage catalysts and small-cage nonpolar guests have been extended to a broad range of vapor compositions and sampling conditions. The data better reveal the stages by which room-temperature vapor mixtures, when cooled below ∼220 K, instantly generate aerosols with particles composed exclusively of the corresponding clathrate hydrates. In particular the quantitative data help relate the nature of the hydrates that form to the composition of the aqueous nanodroplets of the first stages of the rapid transition from the all-vapor mixture. The overall transition from an all-vapor mixture to "gas"-hydrate nanocrystals is a multistage one that has been characterized as homogeneous nucleation and growth of solution nanodroplets (∼240 K) followed by nucleation and growth of the gas-hydrate particles (∼220 K); all occurring within a subsecond that follows pulsing of the warm vapor into a sampling cold chamber. This may serve well as a general description of the instantaneous generation of the gas-hydrate aerosols, but closer consideration of the nature of the sampling method, in context with recent computation-based insights to (a) gas-hydrate nucleation stages∕rates and (b) the lifetimes of trapped small nonpolar molecules in cold aqueous nanodroplets, suggests a more complex multistage transition. The simulated lifetimes and extensive new quantitative infrared data significantly broaden the knowledge base in which the instantaneous transition from vapor to crystalline hydrate particles is viewed. The apparent need for a high occupancy of large-cage catalytic guest molecules currently limits the practical value of the all-vapor method. Only through greater clarity in the molecular-level description of the transition will the ultimate limits be defined.

Communication: quantitative Fourier-transform infrared data for competitive loading of small cages during all-vapor instantaneous formation of gas-hydrate aerosols.

A simple method has been developed for the measurement of high quality FTIR spectra of aerosols of gas-hydrate nanoparticles. The application of this method enables quantitative observation of gas hydrates that form on subsecond timescales using our all-vapor approach that includes an ether catalyst rather than high pressures to promote hydrate formation. The sampling method is versatile allowing routine studies at temperatures ranging from 120 to 210 K of either a single gas or the competitive uptake of different gas molecules in small cages of the hydrates. The present study emphasizes hydrate aerosols formed by pulsing vapor mixtures into a cold chamber held at 160 or 180 K. We emphasize aerosol spectra from 6 scans recorded an average of 8 s after "instantaneous" hydrate formation as well as of the gas hydrates as they evolve with time. Quantitative aerosol data are reported and analyzed for single small-cage guests and for mixed hydrates of CO(2), CH(4), C(2)H(2), N(2)O, N(2), and air. The approach, combined with the instant formation of gas hydrates from vapors only, offers promise with respect to optimization of methods for the formation and control of gas hydrates.

Proton transfer and autoionization in HNO3·HCl·(H2O)n particles.

The structure and spectroscopic properties of clusters of HNO(3)·HCl·(H(2)O)(n), with n = 1 to 6, have been calculated at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory. Altogether 22 different clusters have been found as stable structures, with minima in their potential energy surfaces. The clusters can be grouped in families with the same number of water molecules, and with close aggregation energies within each family. The addition of each new water molecule increments the aggregation energy of the clusters by a nearly constant value of 76.2 ± 0.1 Hartree. The proton transfer parameter and the coordination number of HNO(3) and HCl in each cluster have been evaluated, and the wavenumber shifts for the X(-)-H(+) vibration from the corresponding mode in the isolated molecules have also been predicted. These values allow classification of the acidic species in the clusters into three types, characterized by the strength of the hydrogen bond and the degree of ionization. A correspondence is found between the coordination number of HNO(3) and the magnitude of the X(-)-H(+) vibrational shift.

Interaction in the ternary complexes of HNO3···HCl···H2O: a theoretical study on energetics, structure, and spectroscopy.

Ternary complexes of HNO(3)···HCl···H(2)O were investigated by ab initio calculations with aug-cc-pVDZ and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets. The results are analyzed in terms of structures, energetics, and infrared vibrational frequencies. In all minima, neither HNO(3) nor HCl becomes ionized. The contribution of the nonadditivity effect, which is significant for hydrogen-bonded clusters, is bigger for the cyclic structures in which HNO(3) acts as a proton donor to HCl, although the global minimum contains HNO(3) donating its proton to a H(2)O molecule.

Controlling nonclassical content of clathrate hydrates through the choice of molecular guests and temperature.

Low-temperature, low-pressure studies of clathrate hydrates (CHs) have revealed that small ether and other proton-acceptor guests greatly enhance rates of clathrate hydrate nucleation and growth; rapid formation and transformations are enabled at temperatures as low as 110 K, and cool moist vapors containing small ether molecules convert to mixed-gas CHs on a subsecond time scale. More recently, FTIR spectroscopic studies of the tetrahydrofuran (THF)-HCN double clathrate hydrate revealed a sizable frequency shift accompanied by a four-fold intensification of the C-N stretch-mode absorption of the small cage HCN, behavior that is enhanced by cooling and which correlates precisely with similar significant changes of the ether C-O/C-C stretch modes. These temperature-dependent correlated changes in the infrared spectra have been attributed to equilibrated extensive hydrogen bonding of neighboring large- and small-cage guest molecules with water molecules of the intervening wall. An ether guest functions as a proton acceptor, particularly so when complemented by the action of a proton-donor (HCN)/electron-acceptor (SO(2)) small-cage guest. Because guest molecules of the classic clathrate hydrates do not participate in hydrogen bonds with the host water, this H-bonding of guests has been labeled "nonclassical". The present study has been enriched by comparing observed FTIR spectra with high-level molecular orbital computational results for guests and hydrogen-bonded guest-water dimers. Vibrational frequency shifts, from heterodimerization of ethers and water, correlate well with the corresponding observed classical to nonclassical shifts. The new spectroscopic data reveal that the nonclassical structures can contribute at observable levels to CH infrared spectra for a remarkable range of temperatures and choice of guest molecules. By the choice of guest molecules, it is now possible to select the abundance levels of nonclassical configurations, ranging from ∼0 to 100%, for a given temperature. This ability is expected to hasten understanding of the role of guest-induced nonclassical structures in the acceleration or inhibition of the rates of CH formation and transformation.

Clathrate hydrates with hydrogen-bonding guests.

Clathrate hydrates (CHs) are inclusion compounds in which "tetrahedrally" bonded H(2)O forms a crystalline host lattice composed of a periodic array of cages. The structure is stabilized by guest particles which occupy the cages and interact with cage walls via van der Waals interactions. A host of atoms or small molecules can act as guests; here the focus is on guests that are capable of strong to intermediate H-bonding to water (small ethers, H(2)S, etc.) but nevertheless "choose" this hydrate crystal form in which H-bonding is absent from the equilibrium crystal structure. These CHs can form by exposure of ice to guest molecules at temperatures as low as 100-150 K, at the (low) guest saturation pressure. This is in contrast to the "normal" CHs whose formation typically requires temperatures well above 200 K and at least moderate pressures. The experimental part of this study addresses formation kinetics of CHs with H-bonding guests, as well as transformation kinetics between different CH forms, studied by CH infrared spectroscopy. The accompanying computational study suggests that the unique properties of this family of CHs are due to exceptional richness of the host lattice in point defects, caused by defect stabilization by H-bonding of water to the guests.

Microsolvation of HCl within cold NH3 clusters.

The solid state solvation of HCl molecules with small ammonia clusters at an average temperature of 100 K was investigated by on-the-fly molecular dynamics methodology. Structures close to the proton jump from HCl molecule to the ammonia have been further checked with the MP2/aug-cc-pvDZ calculations. Ionization of HCl and/or sharing of the proton were found. Two Zundel-type ions were observedone with proton being shared between ammonium ion and Cl (-) anion (Cl (-)...H (+)...NH 3) in all complexes, and the second, between hydrogen chloride and Cl (-) anion in the HCl...Cl (-)...NH 4 (+)...(NH 3) 2 complex. However, in contrast to methanol clusters, ammonia clusters are not good for the proton wires since once the proton moves to ammonia, it is localized on the ammonium ion units.

Interaction in the ternary complexes of HCl-methanol-X, X = H2O or NH3: Ab initio calculations and on-the-fly molecular dynamics.

Dynamics, structures, energetics, and vibrational spectra of the ternary complexes of hydrogen chloride with either methanol and water or methanol and ammonia were investigated by on-the-fly molecular dynamics and ab initio and density functional theory (DFT) with aug-cc-pvDZ basis sets. Addition of CH3OH to the HCl-NH3 system catalyzes the proton transfer from HCl to NH3. However, the dynamics of the system show that the proton is not localized on NH3; rather, it is shared between N and Cl.

Nonadditive effects in the mixed trimers of HCl and methanethiol.

Ab initio and density functional theory calculations with aug-cc-pVDZ and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets have been performed on the HCl-CH3SH dimer and HCl-(CH3SH)2 and (HCl)2-CH3SH trimers. Structures, energetics, and infrared frequencies are calculated. The results are discussed in terms of the cooperativity effect which is a characteristic of H-bonded systems and compared to oxygen-containing analogs of the same trimers, HCl-(CH3OH)2 and (HCl)2-CH3OH, which have been published recently.

HCl solvation at the surface and within methanol clusters/nanoparticles II: Evidence for molecular wires.

Condensed-phase solvation of HCl on and within methanol nanoparticles was investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, on-the-fly molecular dynamics as implemented in the density functional code Quickstep (which is part of the CP2K package), and ab initio calculations. Adsorption and solvation stages are identified and assigned with the help of calculated infrared spectra obtained from the simulations. The results have been further checked with MP2-level ab initio calculations. The range of acid solvation states extends from the single-coordinated slightly stretched HCl to proton-sharing with Zundel-like methanol O...H+...X- states, and finally to MeOH2+...Cl- units with full proton transfer. Furthermore, once the proton moves to methanol, it is mobilized along methanol molecular chains. Since the proton dynamics reflects the evolving local structures, the "proton" spectra display broad bands usually with underlying continua.