The OH-anion acting as an acid

Abstract

In the crystalline state, the OH- anion is shown to be capable of acting as a base or as an acid with respect to waters of crystallization to which it is linked by hydrogen bonds. We examined the OH- anion in three crystalline samples and studied its behavior using quantum mechanics. Four quantum mechanical approximations were employed (HF, B3LYP, SVWN, and MP2) to obtain the relative stability of isomers of the H3O2- molecule in the three crystals considered. In one crystal state (LICQIX), the H3O2- anion corresponds to a geometry in which OH- acts as an acid, but not so as a free molecule. The free anion H3O2- has two qualitatively different structures. In one structure, the hydrogen bond is long, while in the other structure, the hydrogen bond is shorter and the hydrogen atom lies at an equal distance between donor and acceptor oxygen atoms.