A delicate balance between competing and cooperating noncovalent interactions determines the three-dimensional structure of hydrated alkali-metal ion clusters. With a single water molecule hydrating an ion, the electrostatic ion...water interaction dominates. With more than one water molecule, however, water...water hydrogen-bonding interactions compete with the ion...water interactions to influence the three-dimensional structure. Infrared photodissociation spectra of M(+)(H2O)(x=2-5)Ar (with effective temperatures of approximately 50-150 K, depending on size and composition) are reported for M = Li, Na, K, and Cs, and dependencies on ion size and hydration number are explored.

A delicate balance between competing and cooperating noncovalent interactions determines the three-dimensional structure of hydrated alkali-metal ion clusters. A critical factor influencing the balance reached is the internal energy content (or effective temperature) of the ion cluster. Cold cluster ions (approximately 50-150 K) have little internal energy, and enthalpic contributions have a greater influence on the relative population of low-lying minima. In clusters whose internal energy distributions correspond to temperatures approximately 250-500 K, entropic effects are expected to influence which structural isomers are present, favoring those where free energy has been minimized. Infrared photodissociation spectra of M(+)(H2O)(x=2-5) (approximately 250-500 K) are reported for M = Li, Na, K, and Cs to explore ion dependencies and entropic effects on the observed three-dimensional structure.

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The impact of temperature and charge on the conformation of tryptamine (Tryp) is examined in the gas phase by infrared laser-vibrational predissociation spectroscopy in the 2800-3800 cm(-1) region. Previous studies of neutral Tryp(H(2)O)(n) clusters showed preferential stabilization of specific tryptamine conformers through hydrogen bonding. When complexed with the biologically significant potassium ion, the only conformers found to form under these experimental conditions are built on hitherto unobserved neutral Tryp conformers. The electrostatic interaction between K(+), the tryptamine NH(2) lone pair, and the indole ring in K(+)(Tryp) favors the formation of these new conformers. The observed K(+)(Tryp)(H(2)O) conformers vary significantly from the previously reported neutral Tryp(H(2)O) structure. Using the argon tagging method, we show how variations in temperature impact the observed infrared spectra, demonstrating that different conformers are populated under the different experimental conditions. In addition, the presence of a high-energy conformer of K(+)(Tryp)(H(2)O), trapped by the argon evaporative cooling process, was identified. Exploring the conformational landscape of hydrated cluster ions bearing flexible biomolecules is now possible.

The observed gas-phase coordination number of K+ in K+(H2O)m clusters is smaller than that observed in bulk solution, where the coordination number has been reported to be between 6 and 8. Both theoretical and gas-phase studies of K+(H2O)m cluster ions point to a coordination number closer to 4. In the gas phase, the coordination number is determined by a variety of factors-the most critical being the magnitude of the K+...ligand pairwise interaction. Decreasing the magnitude of the ion...ligand interaction allows more ligands to directly interact with the cation. One method for decreasing the ion...ligand interaction in K+(H2O)m clusters is to systematically substitute weakly bound ligands for the more strongly bound water molecules. The systematic introduction of para-difluorobenzene (DFB) to K+(H2O)m clusters was monitored using infrared photodissociation spectroscopy in the OH stretching region. By varying the ratio of DFB molecules to water molecules present in K+(H2O)m(DFB)n clusters, the observed coordination number of gas-phase K+ was increased to 8, similar to that reported for bulk solution.