AbstractThree hydrated aluminosilicate frameworks—LiABW, NaNAT, and BaEDI—are partly optimized with the periodic Hartree–Fock CRYSTAL95 code. In particular, we optimized the positions of the adsorbed water molecules including the positions of the framework cations (ABW, NAT) or part of the framework atomic positions (ABW). This allowed us to compare cation–water clusters in the gas and adsorbed states and discuss the influence of hydrogen bonding to the framework oxygen atoms or to the neighbor water molecules on the atomic properties (quadrupole coupling constant, anisotropy of electric field gradient) of the adsorbed water molecules. The LiBIK structure obtained from X‐ray diffraction is also considered to illustrate the hydrogen bonds occurring between adsorbed water molecules. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003