Substituent Effects on the Binding Energies of Benzyl Alcohol-H2O Clusters: Ab initio Study

Computations are presented for the ortho- and para-substituted benzyl alcohol-$H_2O$ clusters. A variety of conformers are predicted, and their relative energies are compared. Binding energies of the clusters are computed, and detailed analysis is presented on the effects of substitution on the strength of the hydrogen bond in the clusters. F- and $NH_2-$ substituted clusters are studied to analyze the effects of electron-withdrawing and electron-pushing groups. In para-substituted clusters, the inductive effects are dominant, affecting the binding energies in opposite way depending on whether the hydroxyl group is proton-donating or -accepting. For ortho-substituted clusters, more direct involvement of the substituting group and the resulting geometry change of the hydrogen bond should be invoked to elucidate complicated pattern of the binding energy of the clusters.