Large Angular Jump Mechanism Observed for Hydrogen Bond Exchange in Aqueous Perchlorate Solution

The mechanism for hydrogen bond (H-bond) switching in solution has remained subject to debate despite extensive experimental and theoretical studies. We have applied polarization-selective multidimensional vibrational spectroscopy to investigate the H-bond exchange mechanism in aqueous NaClO4 solution. The results show that a water molecule shifts its donated H-bonds between water and perchlorate acceptors by means of large, prompt angular rotation. Using a jump-exchange kinetic model, we extracted an average jump angle of 49 +/- 4 degrees, in qualitative agreement with the jump angle observed in molecular dynamics simulations of the same aqueous NaClO4 solution.