Crossover from hydrogen to chemical bonding
Bogdan Dereka, Qi Yu, Nicholas H. C. Lewis, William Benjamin Carpenter, Joel M. Bowman, Andrei Tokmakoff
Abstract
The nature of short hydrogen bonds Hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) unquestionably plays an important role in chemical and biological systems and is responsible for some of their unusual properties. Strong, short H-bonds constitute a separate class that, owing to their elusive characterization, has remained a point of contention over the past several decades. Using femtosecond two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy in conjunction with quantum chemical calculations, Dereka et al. demonstrate a powerful way to investigate the nature of short H-bonding (see the Perspective by Bonn and Hunger). Their quantitative characterization of multiple coupled motions in the model system of bifluoride anion [F-H-F] − in aqueous solution reveals several distinctive features of a crossover from conventional to short, strong H-bonding. Science , this issue p. 160 see also p. 123