Molecular Parameters of Tert-Butyl Chloride and Its Isotopologues Determined from High-Resolution Rotational Spectroscopy

Abstract

A broadband chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectrometer was used to detect the rotational spectra of the products of a chemical reaction in the gas phase from 1-18 GHz under the supersonic expansion condition. In natural abundance, pure rotational energy level transitions of tert-butyl chloride and its isotopologues (13C, 37Cl) were observed and assigned. The rotational spectral parameters (rotational constant, quadrupole coupling constant and centrifugal distortion constant) of these isotopologues were determined. The experimental results are in great agreement with the calculated values of quantum chemistry and the spectral parameters in the literature. The accuracy and the capability for chemical detection of our homemade rotational spectrometer were verified by this experiment.

Keywords

• rotational spectroscopy
• isotopologue
• microwave spectrometer
• tert-butyl chloride