Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2025

Fizzy Extraction of Volatile Organic Compounds Combined with Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry
Published on: July 14, 2017
Interactions of limonene with the water dimer
S Indira Murugachandran1, M Eugenia Sanz1
1Department of Chemistry, King's College London, London, SE1 1DB, UK. maria.sanz@kcl.ac.uk.
Abstract:
The interactions of two molecules of water with the terpene limonene are characterised by chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. Seven isomers of limonene-(H2O)2 have been observed, and identified from the comparison of their experimental spectroscopic parameters with those predicted by computational methods. In all isomers a distorted water dimer binds to limonene through O-H⋯π and C-H⋯O interactions, and shows a strong preference for interacting with equatorial conformations of limonene. O-H⋯π hydrogen bonds to both endocyclic and exocyclic double bonds of limonene are established. In one of the isomers the water dimer forms a bridge between the endocyclic and exocyclic double bonds of limonene. Our results help advance our understanding of the interactions of water with atmospheric compounds.
Related Concept Videos
Intermolecular Forces
Formation of Halohydrin from Alkenes
Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Acid-Catalyzed Hydration
Acid-Catalyzed Hydration of Alkenes
Van der Waals Interactions
Aldehydes and Ketones with Water: Hydrate Formation
The formation of hydrates is a reversible reaction. Hydrate formation is influenced by steric and electronic factors accompanying the alkyl substituents on the carbonyl group: The rate of hydrate formation increases with a decrease in the number of alkyl groups attached to the carbonyl carbon. Hence,...

