Grotthus-type and diffusive proton transfer in 7-hydroxyquinoline.(NH(3))(n) clusters.

Proton translocation along ammonia wires is investigated in 7-hydroxyquinoline.(NH(3))(n) clusters, both experimentally by laser spectroscopy and theoretically by Hartree-Fock and density functional (DFT) calculations. These clusters serve as realistic finite-size models for proton transfer along a chain of hydrogen-bonded solvent molecules. In the enol tautomer of 7-hydroxyquinoline (7-HQ), the OH group acts as a proton injection site into the (NH(3))(n)cluster. Proton translocation along a chain of three NH(3) molecules within the cluster can take place, followed by reprotonation of 7-HQ at the quinolinic N atom, forming the 7-ketoquinoline tautomer. Exoergic proton transfer from the OH group of 7-HQ to the closest NH(3) molecule within the cluster giving a zwitterion 7-HQ-.(NH(3))(6)H+ (denoted PT-A) occurs at a threshold cluster size of n = 6 in the DFT calculations and at n = 5 or 6 experimentally. Three further locally stable zwitterion clusters denoted PT-B, PT-B', and PT-C, the keto tautomer, and several transition structures along the proton translocation path were characterized theoretically. Grotthus-type proton-hopping mechanisms occur for three of the proton transfer steps, which have low barriers and are exoergic or weakly endoergic. The step with the highest barrier involves a complex proton transfer mechanism, involving structural reorganization and large-scale diffusive motions of the cluster.