title: Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopic evidence for the interaction of HAlOH with water molecules.
abstract: The complex HAlOH:(H(2)O) has been detected by matrix-isolation IR spectroscopy. This complex was speculated to be the species responsible for the chemiluminescent glow associated with the explosion of trimethyl aluminum or aluminum grenades in the upper atomosphere. Theoretical studies suggest that HAlOH:(H(2)O)(n) is a critical precursor in the formation of H(2) in the reaction of Al with liquid water. In our study, Al atoms were reacted with mixtures of D(2)O/He or H(2)(17)O/He in an adamantane matrix in a metal-atom reactor, known as a rotating cryostat, maintained at 77 K and at <10(-6) Torr. In addition to DAlOD and HAlOH, which formed from the reaction of Al atoms with adventitious water, EPR analysis of the Al-D(2)O/He reaction mixture from 77 to 290 K showed that HAlOH:(D(2)O) and DAlOD:(D(2)O) formed. The experimental nuclear hyperfine interactions (hfis) for these species were in close agreement with those calculated using the B3LYP density functional method and the 6-311+G(2df,p) basis set. The effect of complexation is to lower the Al hfi of HAlOH and DAlOD by ca. 8%, the H hfi of HAlOH by ca. 28%, and the D hfi of DAlOD by ca. 35%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada.
authors.forename: François D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: Helen A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Joly