Although a relatively rare event (see Fig. ), σ * OH occupations of 0.2 e are quite surprisingly high, and exceed values found even in H 2 O-OH -complexes (0.17) and water cluster anion isomers exhibiting the double acceptor (AA) motif (0.16 e). The latter are associated with water stretch vibrational redshifts of >300 cm -1 . It stands to reason then that similarly large, or larger, vibrational redshifts occur in the condensedphase e - (aq) . The overall 200 cm -1 redshift we observe in the OH stretch of e - (aq) thus appears to result from the smaller average σ * OH populations of ∼0.05-0.1 e seen in the first-shell water molecules. However, the spectral envelope of the OH stretch is seen to extend down to below 3000 cm -1 (see Fig. ) and we hypothesize that these strongly red-shifted frequencies are due to the water molecule closest to the electron when it has a high σ * OH occupation. This idea will be explored in more detail in a future publication.