Nonlinear rotational spectroscopy reveals many-body interactions in water molecules
Name
pnas.2020941118.pdf
Description
Published version
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2.26 MB
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Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
6fefad50b264aa7589e28da3a83e1a3d
Author(s)
Zhang, Yaqing
Shi, Jiaojian
Li, Xian
Coy, Stephen L
Field, Robert W
Nelson, Keith A
Date Issued
September 2021
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Citation
Zhang, Yaqing, Shi, Jiaojian, Li, Xian, Coy, Stephen L, Field, Robert W et al. 2021. "Nonlinear rotational spectroscopy reveals many-body interactions in water molecules." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118 (40).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Significance
Since water vapor exists everywhere around us and is crucial to life, the stable complexes that water molecules form with each other and with various environmental constituents have been studied extensively. Transient, metastable complexes are more elusive. A recently developed method, two-dimensional rotational spectroscopy, directly measures correlations between the rotational transitions in a conventional spectrum. Measurements of water vapor showed that rotations of one water molecule can change the rotational frequencies of another. Distinct spectral peaks provide direct experimental signatures of previously unseen complexes between the water molecules involved. The sensitivity of the method to intermolecular interactions has directly identified metastable cooperative behavior in one of the most extensively studied molecular species and promises new insights about many others.
Since water vapor exists everywhere around us and is crucial to life, the stable complexes that water molecules form with each other and with various environmental constituents have been studied extensively. Transient, metastable complexes are more elusive. A recently developed method, two-dimensional rotational spectroscopy, directly measures correlations between the rotational transitions in a conventional spectrum. Measurements of water vapor showed that rotations of one water molecule can change the rotational frequencies of another. Distinct spectral peaks provide direct experimental signatures of previously unseen complexes between the water molecules involved. The sensitivity of the method to intermolecular interactions has directly identified metastable cooperative behavior in one of the most extensively studied molecular species and promises new insights about many others.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2020941118
