Ultrafast Proton Transport between a Hydroxy Acid and a Nitrogen Base along Solvent Bridges Governed by the...

Aqueous proton transport plays a key role in acid-base neutralization and energy transport through biological membranes and hydrogen fuel cells. Extensive experimental and theoretical studies have resulted in a highly detailed elucidation of one of the underlying microscopic mechanisms for aqueous excess proton transport, known as the von Grotthuss mechanism, involving different hydrated proton configurations with associated high fluxional structural dynamics. Hydroxide transport, with approximately 2-fold-lower bulk diffusion rates compared to those of excess protons, has received much less attention. We present femtosecond UV/IR pump-probe experiments and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of different proton transport pathways of bifunctional photoacid 7-hydroxyquinoline (7HQ) in water/methanol mixtures. For 7HQ solvent-dependent photoacidity, free-energy-reactivity correlation behavior and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) trajectories point to a dominant OH^-/CH₃O^- transport pathway for all water/methanol mixing ratios investigated. Our joint ultrafast infrared spectroscopic and ab initio molecular dynamics study provides conclusive evidence for the hydrolysis/methanolysis acid-base neutralization pathway, as formulated by Manfred Eigen half a century ago. Our findings on the distinctly different acid-base reactivities for aromatic hydroxyl and aromatic nitrogen functionalities suggest the usefulness of further exploration of these free-energy-reactivity correlations as a function of solvent polarity. Ultimately the determination of solvent-dependent acidities will contribute to a better understanding of proton-transport mechanisms at weakly polar surfaces and near polar or ionic regions in transmembrane proton pump proteins or hydrogen fuel cell materials.