Structures of microsolvated camphor from broadband rotational spectroscopy

Using broadband rotational spectroscopy, we will present our results on the microsolvation of camphor (C$_{10}$H$_{16}$O) complexed with up to three water molecules.\footnote{C. P\'{e}rez, A. Krin, A. L. Steber, J. C. L\'{o}pez, Z. Kisiel, M. Schnell, \emph{J. Phys. Chem. Lett.} \textbf{2016}, \textit{7} 154-160.} Unambiguous assignment was achieved by performing multi H$_{2}^{18}$O isotopic substitution of clustered water molecules. The observation of all possible mono- and multi-H$_{2}^{18}$O insertions in the cluster structure yielded accurate structural information that is not otherwise achievable with single-substitution experiments. The observed clusters exhibit water chains starting with a strong hydrogen bond to the carbonyl group and terminated by a mainly van der Waals (dispersive) contact to one of the available sites at the monomer moiety. The effect of hydrogen bond cooperativity is noticeable, and will be also discussed