Cooperative effects are known to strongly affect the geometrical, energetic
and vibrational properties of hydrogen bonded systems. In particular, such
effects strongly favor molecular arrangements where each molecule is simul
taneously a donor and an acceptor of hydrogen bonds (HBs), regardless of th
e chemical nature of the monomer subunits. In the particular case of water
systems, it has been shown that the more a molecule is a proton donor in HB
s, the more the HBs where it is a proton acceptor are reinforced. Such a pr
operty could be at the origin of the equilibrium between the two species of
hydrogen bonded water molecules in liquid water (one with a strong hydroge
n bonding character, and one with a weaker one), as experimentally evidence
d and as a molecular dynamic study of the small (H2O)(24) cluster clearly s
uggests.