title: Ionization of imidazole in the gas phase, microhydrated environments, and in aqueous solution.
abstract: Hydration of neutral and cationic imidazole is studied by means of ab initio and molecular dynamics calculations, and by photoelectron spectroscopy of the neutral species in a liquid microjet. The calculations show the importance of long range solvent polarization and of the difference between the structure of water molecules in the first shell around the neutral vs cationic species for determining vertical and adiabatic ionization potentials. The vertical ionization potential of neutral imidazole of 8.06 eV calculated using a nonequilibrium polarizable continuum model agrees well with the value of 8.26 eV obtained experimentally for an aqueous solution at pH 10.6.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and Center for Complex Molecular Systems and Biomolecules, Flemingovo nAm. 2, 16610 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jagoda-Cwiklik
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Slavícek
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cwiklik
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nolting
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jungwirth
mesh_terms: D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D012996:Solutions; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D007093:Imidazoles; D012996:Solutions; D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water; C029899:imidazole