title: A spectroscopic and computational study of propofol dimers and their hydrated clusters.
abstract: Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol, PPF) homodimers and their complexes with one water molecule are analyzed by means of mass-resolved excitation spectroscopy. Using two-color resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) the S(1) electronic spectra of these systems are obtained, avoiding fragmentation. Due to the large size of these species, the spectra present a large abundance of lines. Using UV/UV hole-burning spectroscopy, two isomers of PPF(2) are found and the existence of at least three isomers for propofol(2)(H(2)O)(1) (PPF(2)W(1)) is demonstrated. Comparison with the structures calculated at the M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) and M06-2X/6-31+G(d) levels of theory shows that the main driving forces in PPF(2) are several C-H···π interactions accompanied by dipole-dipole interaction between the OH moieties. On the other hand, there is evidence for the formation of cyclic hydrogen-bond structures in the heterotrimers. A comparison of the results obtained herein with those of similar systems from previously published studies follows.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Química Física, Faultad Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco-UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain.
authors.forename: Iker
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: León
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Millán
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Castaño
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fernández