Communication: Structural locking mediated by a water wire: A high-resolution rotational spectroscopy study on hydrated forms of a chiral biphenyl derivative

Sérgio R Domingos; Cristóbal Pérez; Melanie Schnell

doi:10.1063/1.4966584

Communication: Structural locking mediated by a water wire: A high-resolution rotational spectroscopy study on hydrated forms of a chiral biphenyl derivative

J Chem Phys. 2016 Oct 28;145(16):161103. doi: 10.1063/1.4966584.

Authors

Sérgio R Domingos¹, Cristóbal Pérez¹, Melanie Schnell¹

Affiliation

¹ Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.

PMID: 27802624
DOI: 10.1063/1.4966584

Abstract

We report the observation of structural changes in an axially chiral molecule, biphenyl-2-carboxaldehyde, due to aggregation with water. Using high-resolution broadband rotational spectroscopy we find that two water molecules link opposite sides of the molecule, resembling a water wire. We show that this effect can be explained by a cooperative rearrangement of both molecule and a water dimer. Hydrogen bonding interactions are shown to change the original structure upon aggregation of water. This phenomenon is insightful on the role of microsolvation in assisting structural morphing of stereo-selective chiral molecular systems.