Ab initio molecular-orbital calculations for dodecahedral water clusters including rare-gas atoms

Abstract

Dodecahedral water clusters including rare-gas atoms and molecules are considered to play an important role in the beginning of the formation of gas hydrates in solutions. To investigate their stability, ab initio molecular-orbital calculations were performed at the MP2/6-311G(d,p)//HF/6-311G(d,p) level. In He, Ne, Ar, and Kr, the cohesive energies of the 12-hedral water clusters including each rare-gas atom were negative, whereas in Xe they were positive. Neon in the dodecahedral cluster was almost as stable as Ar and Kr in the dodecahedral clusters; the latter two are known as clathrate-forming gases. This suggests the probability of the existence of Ne clathrate hydrate, which is generally considered to be impossible. The chemical shifts of Xe incorporated in polyhedral water clusters were computed for the first time. The computed values qualitatively agree with the experimental results. PACS Nos.: 31.15Ar, 31.15Md, 31.15Ne, 36.40Cg, 36.40Mr