The Hydrated Excess Proton Studied by Nonlinear Time-resolved Vibrational Spectroscopy

The excess proton (H+) in aqueous environment, elusive in its structure and local surrounding, has been intensively studied for more than two centuries and is often discussed in terms of two limiting structures, the Eigen cation (H9O4+) and the Zundel cation (H5O2+). However, the prevailing solvation structure and ultrafast fluctuating character of the hydrated proton in solution at room temperature is debated. The present thesis elucidates a predominant solvation structure of excess protons in solution under thermal equilibrium conditions. Zundel cations selectively prepared in acetonitrile solution are investigated by ultrafast two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) and two-color pump-probe spectroscopy. OH stretching and bending vibrations of the flanking water molecules in the H5O2+ moiety are discerned from the proton transfer vibration (O· · ·H· · ·O) and the absorption continuum, a hallmark of Zundel cations in solution, by their markedly different vibrational character. Intramolecular lifetimes are found in the sub-100 fs range, much shorter than for neat liquid water. The "Zundel continuum" is explained by solvent driven field fluctuations that modulate the double minimum proton potential in H5O2+ on the femtosecond time scale. Together with stochastic populations of low frequency modes, both effects lead to strong frequency excursions of the proton transfer fundamental and its overtone and combination tone transitions. Utilizing the distinct vibrational character of the proton transfer mode, time-resolved data of Zundel cations in acetonitrile are compared to those obtained for excess protons in bulk liquid water. The nearly identical vibrational response of both samples found in 2D-IR and two-color pump-probe experiments identifies the H5O2+ moiety as a predominant solvation structure of protons in water. A concentration-dependent steady state infrared spectroscopy series of different water/acetonitrile mixtures hosting the excess protons is used to demonstrate the persistence of the Zundel-type hydration structure in polar solvation environments