Computational treatment of the microsolvation of neutral and zwitterionic forms of alanine

B3LYP/6-31++G** and MP2/6-31++G**//B3LYP/6-31++G** calculations are reported for the structures of neutral alanine-(H2O)n and zwitterionic alanine-(H2O)n clusters where n = 2-10. Optimized geometries and energies were obtained. In general, with an increasing number of water molecules, the hydrated zwitterionic form becomes more thermodynamically stable. In the presence of six or seven water molecules, the energetics indicate that the two forms may coexist. Eight water molecules are sufficient to computationally guarantee the reported experimental observation of zwitterionic dominance in solution.