Fast Collective Hydrogen-Bond Dynamics in Hexafluoroisopropanol Related to its Chemical Activity

Using fluorinated mono-alcohols, in particular hexafluoro-isopropanol (HFIP), as a solvent can enhance chemical reaction rates in a spectacular manner. Previous work has shown evidence that this enhancement is related to the hydrogen-bond structure of these liquids. Here, we investigate the hydrogen-bond dynamics of HFIP and compare it to that of its non-fluorinated analog, isopropanol. Ultrafast infrared spectroscopy experiments show that the dynamics of individual hydrogen-bonds is about twice as slow in HFIP as in isopropanol. Surprisingly, from dielectric spectroscopy we find the opposite behavior for the dynamics of hydrogen-bonded clusters: collective rearrangements are 3 times faster in HFIP than in isopropanol. This difference indicates that the hydrogen-bonded clusters in HFIP are smaller than in isopropanol. The differences in cluster size can be traced to changes in the hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor strengths upon fluorination. The smaller cluster size can boost reaction rates in HFIP by increasing the concentration of reactive, terminal OH-groups of the clusters, whereas the fast collective dynamics can increase the rate of formation of hydrogen-bonds with the reactants. The longer lifetime of the individual hydrogen-bonds in HFIP can enhance the stability of the hydrogen-bonded clusters, and so increase the probability of reactant-solvent hydrogen-bonding.