Observation of a Zundel-like transition state during proton transfer in hydroxide solutions

It is generally accepted that the anomalous diffusion of the aqueous hydroxide ion results from its ability to accept a proton from a neighboring water molecule; yet, many questions exist concerning the mechanism for this process. What is the solvation structure of the hydroxide ion? In what way do water hydrogen bond dynamics influence the transfer of a proton to the ion? We present the results of femtosecond pump-probe and 2D infrared experiments that probe the O-H stretching vibration of a solution of dilute HOD dissolved in NaOD/D[subscript 2]O. Upon the addition of NaOD, measured pump-probe transients and 2D IR spectra show a new feature that decays with a 110-fs time scale. The calculation of 2D IR spectra from an empirical valence bond molecular dynamics simulation of a single NaOH molecule in a bath of H[subscript 2]O indicates that this fast feature is due to an overtone transition of Zundel-like H[subscript 3]O[subscript 2]− states, wherein a proton is significantly shared between a water molecule and the hydroxide ion. Given the frequency of vibration of shared protons, the observations indicate the shared proton state persists for 2–3 vibrational periods before the proton localizes on a hydroxide. Calculations based on the EVB-MD model argue that the collective electric field in the proton transfer direction is the appropriate coordinate to describe the creation and relaxation of these Zundel-like transition states