Multiple isomers of uracil–water complexes: infrared spectroscopy in helium nanodroplets

Infrared laser spectroscopy is used to show that four structural isomers of the uracil-water binary complex are formed in helium nanodroplets. The assignment of the infrared spectra is aided by measurements of vibrational transition moment angles (VTMAs) for various vibrational modes of these complexes. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with ab initio calculations, which had previously predicated the existence of the same four isomers. The results suggest that the relative abundances of the various isomers formed in helium droplets have more to do with the widths of the valleys in the potential surface that funnel into a particular local minimum than on the associated energetics.