3 Results and Discussion Multiple experimental studies have reported the gas-phase micro-hydration of the sodium ion along with computational investigations. In a similar manner the micro-hydration of the chloride ion has also been studied experimentally, in addition to computational investigations. Generally, we see high similarity between our geometries obtained at the ωB97X-D/6-31++g(d,p) level of theory and literature geometries obtained at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory for the hydrated gas-phase clusters of a sodium ion 101 and a chloride ion. In a similar manner our identified (w) 1-5 cluster geometries seen in Figure follow the conventional structure of pure gas-phase water clusters reported in the literature. Figure shows the (Na + ) 1 (w) 1-5 cluster geometries. For (Na + ) 1 (w) 1 , we observe an ion-dipole interaction. For (Na + ) 1 (w) 2 , we wee a linear assembly of water molecules with the Na + center. For (Na + ) 1 (w) 3 , the cluster adopts a trigonal planar geometry of the waters surrounding the Na + center. For the (Na + ) 1 (w) 4 cluster, a quasi-square planar geometry is seen, due to the additional water molecule (confirmed with literature geometries ) but is also reported to be able to adopt a tetrahedral geometry. For (Na + ) 1 (w) 5 , four water molecules are interacting with Na + and one water resides at the periphery of the cluster, which corresponds to the most reported literature geometries even though square pyramidal geometries also occur. Figure presents the (Cl -) 1 (w) 1-5 cluster geometries. For (Cl -) 1 (w) 1 , we observe a polarization-enhanced hydrogen bond. For (Cl -) 1 (w) 2 , we see a trigonal planar geometry of all components without an ionic center (in contrast to the (Na + ) 1 (w) 3 cluster described above). For (Cl -) 1 (w) 3 , the cluster adopts a trigonal pyramidal geometry around the central Cl -. For the (Cl -) 1 (w) 4 cluster, a square pyramidal geometry around the central Cl -is seen. For (Cl -) 1 (w) 5 , a quasi-square pyramidal geometry around the central Cl -is observed, which possess a slight deviation from the four-water planarity observed in the (Cl -) 1 (w) 4