Exploring structures of small anionic nickel–ethanol clusters with infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

Small anionic nickel clusters with ethanol are investigated with a combination of mass-selective infrared photodissociation spectroscopy in a molecular beam and density functional theory simulations at the BLYP/6-311g(d,p) and TPSSh/def2-TZVPP level. In this context, the O–H stretching vibration of the ethanol is analyzed to obtain information about the structural motif, the geometry of the metal core, and the spin state of the clusters. For the [Ni2(EtOH)]− and [Ni3(EtOH)]− clusters, we assign quartet states of motifs with a hydrogen bond from the ethanol to the linear nickel core. The aggregation of a further ethanol molecule, yielding the [Ni3(EtOH)2]− cluster, results in the formation of a cooperative hydrogen bond network between the nickel core and the two ethanol molecules.