Investigation of the chiral properties of configurations of (H2O) n , K+(H2O) m , and Na+(H2O) m (n=4-8, m=5-10) small water clusters at 1 K

The Monte-Carlo procedure and a new method to determine the chirality of water environments and their classification were used for the first time to study the chiral properties of small water clusters such as (H2O) (n) , K+(H2O) (m) , and Na+(H2O) (m) (n = 4-8, m = 5-10) at a temperature of 1 K. The probability that the studied water clusters will be chiral becomes higher at an increase in their size. It is revealed that a small water cluster devoid of impurities is not dominated by one of the arrangements (right or left). The addition of K+ or Na+ impurity ions does not change the equilibrium distribution of right and left configurations in the 10 000-sample set.