| This thesis focuses on understanding the cooperativity and high-directionality of hydrogen bonds in several model systems, as well as the physical processes that drive elementary ion-molecule reactions such as proton transfer or H-atom abstraction. These fundamental interactions are examined at the molecular level where the solvent molecules are, in most cases, clustered together with a solute ion in the gaseous phase and directly probed using various frequency-domain laser spectroscopic techniques. In particular, vibrational predissociation spectroscopy and negative-ion photoelectron spectroscopy were utilized, in conjunction with modern electronic structure calculations, to investigate the details of the hydrogen bonds formed in the initial stages of solvation or during the course of bimolecular chemical reactions. The molecular systems examined in this thesis span a wide variety of interests and include anion-water binary complexes, hydrated biomolecules, and neutral water clusters, in addition to the larger ammonium-water clathrate complexes. |
