Rotational Spectroscopy of the Lowest Energy Conformer of 2-Cyanobutane.

Isopropyl cyanide was recently detected in space as the first branched alkyl compound. Its abundance with respect to n-propyl cyanide in the Galactic center source Sagittarius B2(N2) is about 0.4. Astrochemical model calculations suggest that for the heavier homologue butyl cyanide the branched isomers dominate over the unbranched n-butyl cyanide and that 2-cyanobutane is the most abundant isomer. We have studied the rotational spectrum of 2-cyanobutane between 2 and 24 GHz using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy and between 36 and 402 GHz employing (sub)millimeter absorption spectroscopy. Transitions of the lowest energy conformer were identified easily. Its rotational spectrum is very rich, and the quantum numbers J and Ka reach values of 111 and 73, respectively. This wealth of data yielded rotational and centrifugal distortion parameters up to tenth order, diagonal and one off-diagonal 14N nuclear quadrupole coupling parameters, and one nuclear spin-rotation coupling parameter. We have also carried out quantum chemical calculations in part to facilitate the assignments. The molecule 2-cyanobutane was not found in the present ALMA data of Sagittarius B2(N2), but it may be found in the more sensitive data that have been completed very recently in the ALMA Cycle 4.

Total power millimeter-wave spectrometer for measurements of dust opacity at cryogenic temperatures.

A highly sensitive total power millimeter-wave spectrometer has been built to investigate the opacity of important interstellar-dust analogues in the 10-300 K temperature range. The key elements of the spectrometer are a frequency agile synthesizer followed by a microwave amplifier and a subsequent frequency multiplier. In a first step, the frequency range of 72-120 GHz is covered by the spectrometer, and a room temperature Schottky detector is employed as a detector. A newly developed two channel (sample/reference) copper sample holder is cryogenically cooled for the 10-300 K range. Here we present the technical details of the spectrometer including examples of the obtained results. The analysis of these results will be published elsewhere.

Accurate high-N rest frequencies for CO+, an ideal tracer of photon-dominated regions.

The submillimeter-wave rotational spectra of CO(+), (13)CO(+) and C(18)O(+) in the v = 0 and 1 vibrational states were measured through a hollow cathode dc discharge in a cryogenic cell cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature. In addition, a few transitions of the main isotopic species have been measured between 1.1 and 1.3 THz. An updated isotopically invariant fit, including Born-Oppenheimer breakdown corrections, is presented: the derived set of independent molecular parameters, valid for all the isotopologues of the molecule included in the fit, allows to predict the rotational spectrum with calculated 1σ uncertainty of 280 kHz at 2 THz.

High resolution rotational spectroscopy on D2O up to 2.7 THz in its ground and first excited vibrational bending states.

We present highly accurate laboratory measurements on the pure rotational spectrum of doubly deuterated water, D2O, in selected frequency regions from 10 GHz up to 2.7 THz. Around 140 rotational transitions in both the vibrational ground and first excited bending states (upsilon2=0,1) were measured in total, involving energy levels with unexcelled high J and Ka rotational quantum numbers. The data give valuable information for the spectroscopic analysis of this molecule. In the case of the light and non-rigid water molecule, standard methods for its analysis are limited due to large centrifugal distortion interactions. Here, we present a global analysis of rotational and rovibrational data of the upsilon2=0 and 1 states of D2O by means of an Euler expansion of the Hamiltonian. In addition to the newly measured pure rotational transitions, around 4000 rotational and rovibrational lines have been included from previous work. It was possible to reproduce the extensive dataset to nearly its experimental uncertainty. The improved predictive capability of the model compared to previous work will be demonstrated.

Analysis of the rotational spectrum of methylene (CH2) in its vibronic ground state with an Euler expansion of the Hamiltonian.

We present an analysis of a global, field-free data set of the methylene radical CH2 in its X 3B1 vibronic ground state by means of a novel Euler expansion of the Hamiltonian. The data set comprises pure rotational transitions up to 2 THz obtained with microwave accuracies of 30-500 kHz as well as nu2 ground-state combination differences and pure rotational data obtained with infrared accuracies of 0.001-0.010 cm(-1). Highly accurate spectroscopic parameters have been determined. These include rotational, spin-spin, spin-rotation, and electron-spin-nuclear-spin coupling terms along with several centrifugal distortion corrections. The spectroscopic model has been tested and improved by recording newly three weak DeltaN not equalDeltaJ fine-structure components of the N(KaKc)=2(12)-3(03) and 5(05)-4(14) transitions near 434, 454, and 581 GHz. These lines were rather close to the predictions. Overall weighted root mean squares of 1.28 and 0.83 were achieved for fits in which the Euler expansion was used only for the rotational part of the Hamiltonian or for the rotational and spin-spin terms of the Hamiltonian, respectively. The resulting spectroscopic parameters allow for precise frequency predictions of astrophysically important rotational transitions of methylene.

Gas-phase detection of HSOH: synthesis by flash vacuum pyrolysis of di-tert-butyl sulfoxide and rotational-torsional spectrum.

Gas-phase oxadisulfane (HSOH), the missing link between the well-known molecules hydrogen peroxide (HOOH) and disulfane (HSSH), was synthesized by flash vacuum pyrolysis of di-tert-butyl sulfoxide. Using mass spectrometry, the pyrolysis conditions have been optimized towards formation of HSOH. Microwave spectroscopic investigation of the pyrolysis products allowed-assisted by high-level quantum-chemical calculations--the first measurement of the rotational-torsional spectrum of HSOH. In total, we have measured approximately 600 lines of the rotational-torsional spectrum in the frequency range from 64 GHz to 1.9 THz and assigned some 470 of these to the rotational-torsional spectrum of HSOH in its ground torsional state. Some 120 out of the 600 lines arise from the isotopomer H(34)SOH. The HSOH molecule displays strong c-type and somewhat weaker b-type transitions, indicating a nonplanar skew chain structure, similar to the analogous molecules HOOH and HSSH. The rotational constants (MHz) of the main isotopomer (A=202 069, B=15 282, C=14 840), determined by applying a least-squares analysis to the presently available data set, are in excellent agreement with those predicted by quantum-chemical calculations (A=202 136, B=15 279, C=14 840). Our theoretical treatment also derived the following barrier heights against internal rotation in HSOH (when in the cis and trans configurations) to be V(cis) approximately equal to 2216 cm(-1) and V(trans) approximately equal to 1579 cm(-1). The internal rotational motion results in detectable torsional splittings that are dependent on the angular momentum quantum numbers J and K(a).