An experimental and theoretical study of the photoionization energies (IE's) of Ba(H(2)O)(n) clusters containing up to n = 4 water molecules has been performed. The clusters were generated by a pick-up source combining laser vaporization with pulsed supersonic expansion, and then photoionized by radiation of 272.5-340 nm. The experimentally determined IE(e)'s for n = 1 to 4 are 4.56 ± 0.05, 4.26 ± 0.05, 3.90 ± 0.05 and 3.71 ± 0.05 eV. This cluster size dependence of IE is reproduced within ±0.06 eV employing the mPW1PW91 density-functional and CCSD(T, Full) quantum-chemical methods combined with the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set for the H and O atoms and three different relativistic effective core potentials for Ba atoms. The calculations indicate that the lowest energy hydration structures represent the most relevant contributions to both the vertical and adiabatic ionization energies. Experimental and theoretical evidence correlates with the progressive surface-delocalization of the electron from the hydration cavity around the Ba atom and suggests that the intra-cluster electron transfer is possible even for small aggregates.

The ionization energies (IE e´s)Altogether, the present evidence suggests for the initial steps of the BaOH hydration process to be dominated by electrostatic and polarization interactions between the Ba + and OH -ion cores, which become both increasingly solvated upon sequential addition of water molecules.

An experimental and theoretical study on the reactivity of neutral Ba atoms with water clusters has been conducted to unravel the origin of the irregular intensity pattern observed in one-photon ionization mass spectra of a Ba(H(2)O)(n)/BaOH(H(2)O)(n-1) (n = 1-4) cluster distribution, which was generated in a laser vaporization-supersonic expansion source. The most remarkable irregular feature is the finding for n = 1 of a lower intensity for the Ba(+)(H(2)O)(n) peak with respect to that of BaOH(+)(H(2)O)(n-1), which is opposite to the trend for n = 2-4. Rationalization of the data required consideration of a distinct behavior of ground-state and electronically excited state Ba atoms in inelastic and reactive Ba + (H(2)O)(n) encounters that can occur in the cluster source. Within this picture, the generation of Ba(H(2)O)(n) (n > 1) association products results from stabilizing collisions with atoms of the carrier gas, which are favored by intramolecular vibrational redistribution that operates on the corresponding collision intermediates prior to stabilization; the latter is unlikely to occur for Ba + (H(2)O) encounters. Overall, this interpretation is consistent with additional in-source laser excitation and quenching experiments, which aimed to explore qualitatively the effect of perturbing the Ba atom electronic state population distribution on the observed intensity pattern, as well as with the energetics of various possible reactions for the Ba + H(2)O system that derive from high level ab initio calculations.