A.J. Horsewill

Quantum rotation of ortho and para-water encapsulated in a fullerene cage

Inelastic neutron scattering, far-infrared spectroscopy, and cryogenic nuclear magnetic resonance are used to investigate the quantized rotation and ortho–para conversion of single water molecules trapped inside closed fullerene cages. The existence of metastable ortho-water molecules is demonstrated, and the interconversion of ortho-and para-water spin isomers is tracked in real time. Our investigation reveals that the ground state of encapsulated ortho water has a lifted degeneracy, associated with symmetry-breaking of the water environment.

The vibrational spectrum of crystalline benzoic acid: Inelastic neutron scattering and density functional theory calculations

Vibrational spectra of several isotopomers of benzoic acid (BA) crystals have been recorded by inelastic neutron scattering and are compared with spectra calculated for different potential energy surfaces (PES). These PES were obtained within the harmonic approximation from quantum chemical density functional theory (DFT) calculations made for the monomer, the isolated dimer, and the crystal using different codes and different levels of basis functions. Without refinement of the force constants, agreement between calculated and observed spectra is already sufficient for an unambiguous assignment of all vibrational modes. The best agreement was obtained with periodic DFT calculations. The most prominent discrepancy between calculated and observed frequencies was found for the out-of-plane O–H bending modes. For these modes (as well as for the in-plane bending and the O–H stretching modes) the anharmonicity of the potential was calculated, and the anharmonic correction was shown to account for about one-thi...

Proton tunneling in benzoic acid crystals at intermediate temperatures: Nuclear magnetic resonance and neutron scattering studies

The dynamics of proton transfer along the hydrogen bonds of dimers of benzoic acid has been characterized in single crystals and powders at temperatures between 10 K and 110 K by quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) and by proton spin-lattice relaxation using field-cycling NMR spectroscopy. These measurements define the geometry of the proton transfer, the energy difference between the two tautomers of benzoic acid corresponding to the two proton positions, as well as the proton correlation time. The proton jump vector agrees well with expectations from recent crystallographic data. The energy difference between tautomers of A/kB=86.5±1.5 K is in contradiction with the lower value of A/kB=50 K derived from older 13C NMR and infrared absorption measurements. NMR and QENS measurements provide mutually consistent values of the proton correlation time, τc, and an accurate characterization of the dynamics at temperatures where the onset of thermally activated processes is observed. Tunneling in an excited v...

Proton transfer dynamics in the hydrogen bond: a direct measurement of the incoherent tunnelling rate by NMR and the quantum-to-classical transition

Abstract The incoherent tunnelling rate for proton transfer in the hydrogen bonds of benzoic acid dimers has been measured by field cycling NMR from the dispersion of the proton spin-lattice relaxation time which maps out the spectral density function directly. The intermediate region between quantum and classical dynamics has been studied by measuring the inverse correlation time for proton transfer as a function of temperature and the contribution made by tunnelling in the excited states of the double minimum potential has been determined.

Hydrogen bond dynamics in benzoic acid dimers as a function of hydrostatic pressure measured by nuclear magnetic resonance

The dynamics of hydrogen atoms in the hydrogen bonds of benzoic acid dimers have been studied as a function of hydrostatic pressure to pressures in excess of 4 kbar. This paper is primarily concerned with results up to 3.3 kbar. The temperature dependence of the correlation time for the motion at a series of pressures has been investigated using measurements of the proton spin–lattice relaxation time. Strong non‐Arrhenius behavior is exhibited and the data are in good agreement with a model which invokes phonon assisted tunneling at low temperature and thermally activated Arrhenius dynamics at high temperature. The parameters in the model include the asymmetry of the double minimum potential experienced by the hydrogen atoms and dynamical variables relating to the tunneling and hopping processes. The rate of phonon assisted tunneling is observed to increase exponentially with increasing pressure and this is attributed to the increase in the tunneling matrix element which occurs as the distance between the...

Cryogenic NMR spectroscopy of endohedral hydrogen-fullerene complexes

We have observed 1H NMR spectra of hydrogen molecules trapped inside modified fullerene cages under cryogenic conditions. Experiments on static samples were performed at sample temperatures down to 4.3 K, while magic-angle-spinning (MAS) experiments were performed at temperatures down to 20 K at spinning frequencies of 15 kHz. Both types of NMR spectra show a large increase in the intramolecular 1H-1H dipolar coupling at temperatures below 50 K, revealing thermal selection of a small number of spatial rotational states. The static and MAS spectra were compared to estimate the degree of sample heating in high-speed cryogenic MAS-NMR experiments. The cryogenic MAS-NMR data show that the site resolution of magic-angle-spinning NMR may be combined with the high signal strength of cryogenic operation and that cryogenic phenomena may be studied with chemical site selectivity.

The dipolar endofullerene HF@C60

The cavity inside fullerenes provides a unique environment for the study of isolated atoms and molecules. We report the encapsulation of hydrogen fluoride inside C60 using molecular surgery to give the endohedral fullerene HF@C60. The key synthetic step is the closure of the open fullerene cage with the escape of HF minimized. The encapsulated HF molecule moves freely inside the cage and exhibits quantization of its translational and rotational degrees of freedom, as revealed by inelastic neutron scattering and infrared spectroscopy. The rotational and vibrational constants of the encapsulated HF molecules were found to be redshifted relative to free HF. The NMR spectra display a large (1)H-(19)F J coupling typical of an isolated species. The dipole moment of HF@C60 was estimated from the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant at cryogenic temperatures and showed that the cage shields around 75% of the HF dipole.

Coordinated proton tunnelling in a cyclic network of four hydrogen bonds in the solid state

The transfer of protons involved in hydrogen bonding is fundamental to many chemical and biological processes. Quantum tunnelling can play an important role in this process,. It manifests itself in strong isotope effects, and has been observed directly in the solid state. The tunnelling behaviour seen in such studies usually displays the characteristics of a particle confined in a double-well potential. But proton tunnelling can also occur in a coordinated fashion that involves many hydrogen bonds simultaneously. Such a process may significantly affect the properties of linear and circular networks of hydrogen bonds, which occur in ice and in macromolecules containing hydroxyl groups,. Here we report the direct observation by NMR relaxometry of coordinated proton tunnelling in a cyclic array of four hydrogen bonds in solid p-tert-butyl calix[4]arene at low temperature. We are able to quantify the parameters that describe this phenomenon and find good agreement with theoretical predictions for phonon-assisted tunnelling.

Isotope effects associated with tunneling and double proton transfer in the hydrogen bonds of benzoic acid.

The isotope effects associated with double proton transfer in the hydrogen bonds of benzoic acid (BA) dimers have been measured using field-cycling (1)H NMR relaxometry and quasielastic neutron scattering. By studying mixed isotope (hydrogen and deuterium) samples, the dynamics of three isotopologues, BA-HH, BA-HD, and BA-DD, have been investigated. Low temperature measurements provide accurate measurements of the incoherent tunneling rate, k(0). This parameter scales accurately with the mass number, m, according to the formula k(0)=(E/m)e(-Fm) providing conclusive evidence that the proton transfer process is a strongly correlated motion of two hydrons. Furthermore, we conclude that the tunneling pathway is the same for the three isotopologue species. Measurements at higher temperatures illuminate the through barrier processes that are mediated via intermediate or excited vibrational states. In parallel with the investigation of proton transfer dynamics, the theoretical and experimental aspects of studying spin-lattice relaxation in single crystals of mixed isotope samples are investigated in depth. Heteronuclear dipolar interactions between (1)H and (2)H isotopes contribute significantly to the overall proton spin-lattice relaxation and it is shown that these must be modeled correctly to obtain accurate values for the proton transfer rates. Since the sample used in the NMR measurements was a single crystal, full account of the orientation dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation with respect to the applied B field was incorporated into the data analysis.

Proton tunnelling in the hydrogen bonds of halogen-substituted derivatives of benzoic acid studied by NMR relaxometry: the case of large energy asymmetry

Abstract The concerted two proton transfer in the hydrogen bonds of para -halogen substituted derivatives of benzoic acid has been investigated using conventional NMR relaxometry combined with field-cycling measurements of the magnetic field dependence of the proton spin–lattice relaxation rate. Thus, the inverse correlation time describing the proton transfer process has been determined over a wide range of temperature. The energy difference between the two proton configurations was determined in all four compounds to be significantly larger than in the prototype model system of benzoic acid dimers. This energy difference exceeds the cut-off frequency of the acoustic phonon spectrum of the crystal as well as the frequency of two lowest modes promoting proton tunnelling. The low temperature limit of the tunnelling rate was found to be one order of magnitude higher than in benzoic acid. For the four compounds studied, this rate and its increase at higher temperature exhibit a different behaviour to benzoic acid which is attributed to the details of the level structure and energy gaps between states corresponding predominantly to one or the other proton configuration. A new adaptation of the phonon-assisted theory is proposed which applies to these cases of high energy asymmetry. To assist in the interpretation of the data, a powder neutron diffraction structure determination of 4-bromobenzoic acid is reported together with DFT calculations on the hydrogen bond structures of all members of the 4-halogen substituted derivatives.