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Alternative Tetrahedral Water Clusters

Connectivity maps of some small optimized tetrahedral water clusters [429] are shown below. Compare these with the icosahedral (512) water cluster connectivity map (Schlegel diagram) (with 30,026 symmetry independent hydrogen-bonded configurations). Larger clusters based on, for example, tetrakaidecahedral (51262) (with 3,043,836 symmetry independent hydrogen-bonded configurations), pentakaidecahedral (51263), and hexakaidecahedral (51264) (with 61,753,344 symmetry independent hydrogen-bonded configurations) are also possible.

 

Connectivity maps of alternative water clusters

 

connectivity maps of alternative water clusters

 

Complete water clusterings for the smaller optimized structures are shown below; each molecule in the small cluster forms a vertex of an (H2O)14 water tetrahedron. Only the oxygen atoms are shown (see the Jmol interactive structures). Compare with the icosahedral water cluster.

 

Alternative water clusters

 

alternative water clusters

 

 

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This page was established in 2003 and last updated by Martin Chaplin on 28 June, 2021


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