A comprehensive infrared spectroscopic and theoretical study on phenol-ethyldimethylsilane dihydrogen-bonded clusters in the S₀ and S₁ states

To investigate microscopic characters of Si–H⋯H–O type dihydrogen bonds, we observed OH and SiH stretch bands in both the S0 and S1 states of phenol-ethyldimethylsilane (PhOH-EDMS) clusters by infrared (IR)–ultraviolet (UV) and UV–IR double resonance spectroscopies. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and energy decomposition analysis were also performed. Structures of two isomers identified were unambiguously determined through the analysis of IR spectra and DFT calculations. To discuss the strength of dihydrogen bond in various systems, we performed theoretical calculations on clusters of EDMS with several acidic molecules in addition to PhOH. It was revealed that charge-transfer interaction energies from a bonding σ orbital of SiH bond to an anti-bonding σ* orbital of OH bond well reflect strengths of dihydrogen bonds. Additionally, it was found that the red shift of SiH stretch frequencies can be used as a crude measure of the strength of dihydrogen bonds. Relationship between the red shifts of OH/SiH stretch frequencies and various electrostatic components of the interaction energy was examined. In the S1 state, large increases in red shifts were observed for both the OH and SiH stretch frequencies. Since the EDMS moiety is not associated with the electronic excitation in a cluster, the strength of dihydrogen bonds in the S1 and S0 states was able to be directly compared based on the red shifts of the SiH stretch bands. A significant increase in the red shift of SiH stretch frequency indicates a strengthening of the dihydrogen bonds during the electronic excitation of the PhOH moiety.