Solvent rearrangement for an excited electron of I−(H2O)6: Analog to structural rearrangement of e−(H2O)6

Abstract

The study of electron solvation dynamics is vital for understanding the phenomena related to the electron transfer process in solvents. On the basis of a recent femtosecond dynamics study of charge-transfer-to-solvent states in photoexcited iodide–water clusters [Lehr et al., Science 284, 635 (1999)], we have investigated the solvent rearrangement process for the excited electron in the iodide–water hexamer using ab initio calculations. Upon excitation of iodide–water hexamer, an electron transfers from the iodide anion to the water cluster. This results in release of the iodine atom and thereby formation of anionic water hexamer which undergoes rearrangement process toward the most stable conformation. The transformation pathway from the low-lying energy structures of the iodide–water hexamer to those of the electron–water hexamer is thus elucidated from the potential energy surface including the global and local minima and transition states of the electron–water hexamer.