Dynamic anti-correlations of water hydrogen bonds

Water is characterized by strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) between molecules. The two hydrogen atoms in one water molecule can form H-bonds of dissimilar length. Although intimately connected to water’s anomalous properties, the details and the origins of the asymmetry have remained elusive. We study water’s H-bonds using the O-D stretching vibrations as sensitive reporters of H-bonding of D₂O and HOD in dimethylformamide. Broader inhomogeneous linewidths of the OD band of HOD compared to the symmetric and asymmetric OD stretching modes of D₂O together with density functional theory calculations provide evidence for markedly anti-correlated H-bonds: water preferentially forms one weak and one strong H-bond. Coupling peaks in the spectra for D₂O directly demonstrate anti-correlated H-bonds and these anti-correlations are modulated by thermal motions of water on a sub-picosecond timescale. Experimentally inferred H-bond distributions suggest that the anti-correlations are a direct consequence of the H-bonding potential of XH₂ groups, which we confirm for the ND₂ group of urea. These structural and dynamic insights into H-bonding are essential for understanding the relationship between the H-bonded structure and phase behavior of water.