Communication: Frequency shifts of an intramolecular hydrogen bond as a measure of intermolecular hydrogen bond strengths.

Infrared-ultraviolet double resonance spectroscopy has been applied to study the infrared spectra of the supersonically cooled gas phase complexes of formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, formamide, and water with 9-hydroxy-9-fluorenecarboxylic acid (9HFCA), an analog of glycolic acid. In these complexes each binding partner to 9HFCA can function as both proton donor and acceptor. Relative to its frequency in free 9HFCA, the 9-hydroxy (9OH) stretch is blue shifted in complexes with formic, acetic, and propionic acids, but is red shifted in the complexes with formamide and water. Density functional calculations on complexes of 9HFCA to a variety of H bonding partners with differing proton donor and acceptor abilities reveal that the quantitative frequency shift of the 9OH can be attributed to the balance struck between two competing intermolecular H bonds. More extensive calculations on complexes of glycolic acid show excellent consistency with the experimental frequency shifts.