Cyclopropenone (HCCOCH, “CPN”)
is an exotic quasi-aromatic
cyclic carbene that abounds in the interstellar medium (ISM). Astronomical
observations suggest that (i) stagnate CPN exhibits a tendency to
polymerize and that (ii) interactions may occur between CPN and water
that is also ubiquitous in the ISM. In this light, density functional
theory investigations reveal cooperative hydrogen bonding, which leads
to stable polymeric conformations of (CPN)
n
, tracked up to n = 14. Stable agglomerations with
water, however, constitute at best only two CPN and two water molecules,
signifying that while CPN exhibits remarkable cooperativity for “cohesive”
clustering via hydrogen bonding, this tendency is markedly diminished
for “hetero”-interactions. Multifaceted data are employed
to probe cogent molecular descriptors, such as structure and energetics
of various conformers, vibrational spectroscopic response, molecular
electrostatic potential (MESP), effective atomic charges: all these,
in unison, describe the evolution of the characteristics upon cluster
formation. Salient stretching frequency shifts, as well as charge
redistribution gleaned from MESP morphology, have a direct bearing
on variegated hydrogen bonding patterns: linear, nonlinear, as well
as bifurcated. In particular, characteristic C–H, CO
stretching, and O–H vibrations in the water complexes reveal
a “softening” (downshift) of frequencies. While small
conformers have markedly distinct MESP variations, the differences
become less pronounced with incremental clustering, an effect substantiated
by corresponding emergent atomic charges.