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Updated: May 15, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Terahertz vibrational properties of water nanoclusters relevant to biology
1Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 USA ; HydroElectron Ventures Inc., 1303 Greene Avenue Suite 102, Westmount, QC H3Z 2A7 Canada.
Abstract:
Water nanoclusters are shown from first-principles calculations to possess unique terahertz-frequency vibrational modes in the 1-6 THz range, corresponding to O-O-O "bending," "squashing," and "twisting" "surface" distortions of the clusters. The cluster molecular-orbital LUMOs are huge Rydberg-like "S," "P," "D," and "F" orbitals that accept an extra electron via optical excitation, ionization, or electron donation from interacting biomolecules. Dynamic Jahn-Teller coupling of these "hydrated-electron" orbitals to the THz vibrations promotes such water clusters as vibronically active "structured water" essential to biomolecular function such as protein folding. In biological microtubules, confined water-cluster THz vibrations may induce their "quantum coherence" communicated by Jahn-Teller phonons via coupling of the THz electromagnetic field to the water clusters' large electric dipole moments.
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