Infrared spectroscopy of molecules in the gas phase

Abstract

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is applied to the studies of several very different molecular systems. The spectra of the diatomic molecules BF, AIF, and MgF were recorded and analyzed. Dunham coefficients were obtained. The data of two isotopomers, 11BF and 10BF, were used to determine the mass-reduced Dunham coefficients, along with Born-Oppenheimer breakdown constants. Parameterized potential energy function of BF and AIF were determined by fitting the available data using the solutions of the radial Schrodinger equation.

Two vibrational modes of the short-lived and reactive BrCNO molecule were recorded at high resolution. Rotation-vibration transitions of the fundamental bands of both isotopomers 79BrCNO and 81BrCNO were assigned and analyzed. From the rotational constants, it was found that the Br-C bond length in BrCNO anomalously short when a linear geometry was assumed. This may indicate that BrCNO is quasi-linear, simulating the parent HCNO molecule.

The emission spectra of the gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules naphthalene, anthracene, pyrene, and chrysene were recorded in the far-infrared and mid-infrared regions. The assignments of fundamental modes and some combination modes were made. The vibrational bands that lie in the far-infrared are unique for different PAHs and allow discrimination among the four PAH molecules. The far-infrared PAH spectra, therefore, may prove useful in the assignments of unidentified spectral features from astronomical objects.