The Unexplored World of Cycloalkene–Water Complexes: Primary and Assisting Interactions Unraveled by Experimental and Computational Spectroscopy

The intermolecular interactions in cycloalkene-water adducts were computationally characterized, thus demonstrating that the primary O-H...pi(C=C) hydrogen bond is dominated by the electrostatic interaction. A deeper investigation by means of a joint rotational spectroscopy/state-of-the-art quantum chemistry approach also led to the determination of an accurate semi-experimental equilibrium structure for the cyclopentene adduct.