Investigation of the chiral properties of configurations of (H2O)n, K+(H2O)m, and Na+(H2O)m (n = 4–8, m = 5–10) small water clusters at 1 K

Abstract

The Monte-Carlo procedure and a new method to determine the chirality of water environments and their classification were used for the first time to study the chiral properties of small water clusters such as (H₂O)_n, K⁺(H₂O)_m, and Na⁺(H₂O)_m (n = 4–8, m = 5–10) at a temperature of 1 K. The probability that the studied water clusters will be chiral becomes higher at an increase in their size. It is revealed that a small water cluster devoid of impurities is not dominated by one of the arrangements (right or left). The addition of K⁺ or Na⁺ impurity ions does not change the equilibrium distribution of right and left configurations in the 10 000-sample set.