To determine the importance of HB stabilisation throughout the reaction, we analysed the number of HBs as well as their bond lengths (O(carbonyl)-H(water)) and angles (O(carbonyl)-H(water)-O(water)) distributions at RS, TS and PS in explicit water and methanol (Table and Fig. ). We also analysed the density distribution of water molecules surrounding the reactive species at the RS and intermediate states obtained from the corresponding US windows (Fig. ). The latter was chosen over the TS due to their similar geometry and the fact that only a few configurations representative of the TS were obtained. In both reactions, the number of HBs and the density of water's oxygen and hydrogen atoms around the substrate remained practically constant. However, the reaction in water exhibited stronger HB interactions compared to methanol during the reaction process, as evidenced by the existence of HBs with shorter bond lengths at TS in water and a larger decrease in the angle in methanol.