Energy Transfer to the Hydrogen Bond in the (H₂O)₂ + H₂O Collision

Trajectory procedures are used to study the collision between the vibrationally excited H₂O and the ground-state (H₂O)₂ with particular reference to energy transfer to the hydrogen bond through the inter- and intramolecular pathways. In nearly 98% of the trajectories, energy transfer processes occur on a subpicosecond scale (≤0.7 ps). The H₂O transfers approximately three-quarters of its excitation energy to the OH stretches of the dimer. The first step of the intramolecular pathway in the dimer involves a near-resonant first overtone transition from the OH stretch to the bending mode. The energy transfer probability in the presence of the 1:2 resonance is 0.61 at 300 K. The bending mode then redistributes its energy to low-frequency intermolecular vibrations in a series of small excitation steps, with the pathway which results in the hydrogen-bonding modes gaining most of the available energy. The hydrogen bonding in ∼50% of the trajectories ruptures on vibrational excitation, leaving one quantum in the bend of the monomer fragment. In a small fraction of trajectories, the duration of collision is longer than 1 ps, during which the dimer and H₂O form a short-lived complex through a secondary hydrogen bond, which undergoes large amplitude oscillations.