Glory-Scattering Measurement of Water-Noble-Gas Interactions: The Birth of the Hydrogen Bond

摘要

Herein we describe molecular-beam scattering experiments probing the interactions of water with He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe, the observation of the quantum mechanical glory interference effect, and the determination of well depths, well positions, and strengths of long-range attraction. Comparisons with expectations from features of typical van der Waals (vdW) dimers indicate how a trend develops along the series for water to bind more strongly than for pure vdW, by means of state-of-the-art ab initio calculations, in which a proton is protruded as a binding bridge towards the heavier noble gases. These precise measurements of the manifestation of an embryonic hydrogen bond contribute to the understanding of this ubiquitous phenomenon and offer important insight for its modeling.