Specific and nonspecific interactions in a molecule with flexible side chain: 2-phenylethanol and its 1:1 complex with argon studied by high-resolution UV spectroscopy

Using high-resolution resonance-enhanced two-photon ionization spectroscopy in combination with genetic-algorithm-based computer-aided rotational fit analysis and ab initio quantum chemistry calculations we determined the conformational structure and transition moment orientation in 2-phenylethanol and its 1:1 clusters with argon. The results clearly demonstrate that the gauche structure of 2-phenylethanol, which is stabilized by the intramolecular pi-hydrogen bond between the folded side chain and the benzene ring, is the most abundant in the cold molecular beam. In this conformer the transition moment is rotated by 18 degrees from the short axis of the aromatic ring. Two distinct 1:1 complexes of 2-phenylethanol with argon in a cis- and trans-configuration with respect to the side chain have been found. Employing the Kraitchman [Am. J. Phys. 21, 17 (1953)] analysis we have found that the structure of the 2-phenylethanol moiety and the orientation of the transition moment do not change after the complexation with argon within the experimental accuracy. From the measured band intensities we conclude that in addition to the dispersion interaction of the argon atom with the aromatic ring a hydrogen-bond-type interaction with the terminal -OH group of the side chain stabilizes the cis-structure of the 1:1 complex of 2-phenylethanol with argon.