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We report vibrational spectra of the cryogenically cooled H9O4+ cation along with those of the D2 tagged HD8O4+ isotopomers using two variations on a two-color, IR–IR double-resonance photoexcitation scheme. The spectrum of the isolated H9O4+ ion consists of two sharp features in the OH stretching region that indicate exclusive formation of the “Eigen” cation, the H3O+·(H2O)3 isomer that corresponds to the filled hydration shell around the hydronium ion. Consistent with this structural assignment, the spectrum of the HD8O4+ isotopologue is resolved into contributions from two isotopomers: one with the single OH group on one of the three solvent water molecules and another in which it resides on the hydronium core ion. The latter spectrum is dominated by a broad feature assigned to the isolated hydronium OH stretching fundamental with an envelope that is similar to that displayed by the H3O+·(H2O)3 isotopologue. The feature appears with a diffuse band ∼380 cm–1 above it, which is assigned to a combination ...

Many water-anion complexes of the form X-·(H2O), where X- is a polyatomic anion, display a peak progression in the OH stretch region of the vibrational spectra with spacings of 65-85 cm-1. These progressions result from strong anharmonic coupling between the OH stretch and a low-frequency intermolecular rock vibration. In this study, we calculate these progressions in HCO2-·(H2O), NO3-·(H2O), and CS2-·(H2O) by use of a one-dimensional adiabatic model with rock potentials generated from ab initio energies and frequencies. The importance of using a geometry-dependent reduced mass in calculating the peak spacings is demonstrated. We find that the one-dimensional adiabatic model is more successful in predicting peak spacings in the spectrum of HCO2-·(H2O) than for NO3-·(H2O), for which the rock vibration is highly anharmonic.

We report vibrational spectra of the cryogenically cooled H