Parallel Session: Cluster, Contributed Talk (15min)
GC2

THE CHEMISTRY OF PAH-(H2O)n CLUSTERS: A ROTATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY STUDY OF AZULENE DIMER AND ITS INTERACTIONS WITH WATER

S. Saxena1, M. E. Sanz1*
1Department of Chemistry, King’s College London, London SE1 1DB, United Kingdom

The noncovalent interactions present in aromatic complexes are of great relevance in fields ranging from astrochemistry to biomolecular recognition. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the most abundant class of molecules present in the carbonaceous materials and the building blocks of interstellar dust grains. Azulene is one of the smallest PAHs with a dipole moment. Here we present the results on the investigation of azulene dimer and its interactions with water molecules using chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. A stacked, rotated configuration of azulene dimer has been experimentally observed in the spectrum where dispersion forces between the π electronic densities are predominant. In both (azulene)2⋅⋅⋅H2O and (azulene)2⋅⋅⋅(H2O)2 complexes, water molecules establish O-H⋅⋅⋅π hydrogen bonds with one azulene and forms secondary C-H⋅⋅⋅O interactions with the other azulene. The azulene rings also interact with each other through dispersion interactions. Experimental observations are compared with predictions by theoretical methods to evaluate the performance of the latter. Our results contribute to understanding aggregation and microsolvation processes of PAHs in the gas phase.