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Supercritical CO2 is an appealing nontoxic, environmentally friendly solvent for the industrial extraction of many classes of compounds, from caffeine to natural product drug precursors to petrochemical impurities. Apolar in isolation, the ability of supercritical CO2 to dissolve polar species has been empirically shown to be greatly enhanced by the addition of a small molar percentage of a polar cosolvent, often ethanol. Computational work predicts that the isolated ethanol-CO2 complex can exist either in an electron-donor configuration or through a hydrogen-bonding one; yet, neither has been previously experimentally observed. Here, we demonstrate by rotational spectroscopy that the isolated, gas-phase ethanol-CO2 dimer is an electron donor-acceptor complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thionitrous acid (HSNO), a potential key intermediate in biological signaling pathways, has been proposed to link NO and H2S biochemistries, but its existence and stability in vivo remain controversial. We establish that HSNO is spontaneously formed in high concentration when NO and H2S gases are mixed at room temperature in the presence of metallic surfaces. Our measurements reveal that HSNO is formed by the reaction H2S + N2O3 → HSNO + HNO2, where N2O3 is a product of NO disproportionation. These studies also suggest that further reaction of HSNO with H2S may form HNO and HSSH. The length of the S-N bond has been derived to high precision and is found to be unusually long: 1.84 Å, the longest S-N bond reported to date for an R-SNO compound. The present structural and, particularly, reactivity investigations of this elusive molecule provide a firm foundation to better understand its potential physiological chemistry and propensity to undergo S-N bond cleavage in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the pure rotational spectrum of the vinoxy radical (CH 2 CHO) has been studied at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths (110-860 GHz). CH 2 CHO was produced by H-abstraction from acetaldehyde (CH 3 CHO) using atomic fluorine in a double-pass absorption cell at room temperature. A Zeeman-modulation spectrometer, in which an external magnetic field generated inside the absorption cell is amplitude-modulated, was used to record the pure rotational transitions of the radical. The recorded spectra are devoid of signals from closed-shell species, allowing for relatively fast acquisitions over wide spectral windows. Transitions involving values of the rotational quantum numbers N ″ and K a ″ up to 41 and 18, respectively, were measured and combined with all available high-resolution literature data (both pure rotation and ground-state combination differences from ro-vibration) to greatly improve the modeling of the CH 2 CHO spectrum. The combined experimental line list is fit using a semirigid rotor Hamiltonian, and the results are compared to quantum chemical calculations. This laboratory study provides the spectroscopic information needed to search for CH 2 CHO in various interstellar environments, from cold (e.g., typically 10 K for dense molecular clouds) to warm (e.g., ∼200 K for hot corinos) objects.

We present a thorough pure rotational investigation of the CH 2 CN radical in its ground vibrational state. Our measurements cover the millimeter and sub-millimeter wave spectral regions (79-860 GHz) using a W-band chirped-pulse instrument and a frequency multiplication chain-based spectrometer. The radical was produced in a flow cell at room temperature by H abstraction from acetonitrile using atomic fluorine. The newly recorded transitions of CH 2 CN (involving N ″ and K a ″ up to 42 and 8, respectively) were combined with the literature data, leading to a refinement of the spectroscopic parameters of the species using a Watson S-reduced Hamiltonian. In particular, the A rotational constant and K -dependent parameters are significantly better determined than in previous studies. The present model, which reproduces all experimental transitions to their experimental accuracy, allows for confident searches for the radical in cold to warm environments of the interstellar medium.

Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) constitute an important class of molecules found in various environments and are considered important pollutants of the Earth's atmosphere. In particular, functionalization of PACs modify the ring aromaticity, which greatly influences the chemical reactivity of these species. In this work we studied several oxygen-containing PACs, relevant to atmospheric chemistry. We investigated the conformational landscape of four naphthalene-derivative molecules-namely, 1- and 2-hydroxynaphthalene and 1- and 2-naphthaldehyde-by means of rotational and vibrational spectroscopy supported by quantum chemical calculations. For 1-hydroxynaphthalene and 1-naphthaldehyde, intramolecular hydrogen bonding and steric effects drive the conformational preferences while for 2-hydroxynaphthalene and 2-naphthaldehyde, the charge distributions allow us to understand the conformational landscape. This work not only demonstrates how the localization of the substitution group in the ring influences the conformational relative energies and but also constitutes a step toward a better understanding of the different chemical reactivity of such functionalized PACs.

The high resolution far-infrared spectrum of trans -butadiene has been reinvestigated by Fourier-transform spectroscopy at two synchrotron radiation facilities, SOLEIL and the Canadian Light Source, at temperatures ranging from 50 to 340 K. Beyond the well-studied bands, two new fundamental bands lying below 1100 cm -1 , ν 10 and ν 24 , have been assigned using a combination of cross-correlation (ASAP software) and Loomis-Wood type (LWWa software) diagrams. While the ν 24 analysis was rather straightforward, ν 10 exhibits obvious signs of a strong perturbation, presumably owing to interaction with the dark ν 9 + ν 12 state. Effective rotational constants have been derived for both the v 10 = 1 and v 24 = 1 states. Since only one weak, infrared active fundamental band (ν 23 ) of trans -butadiene remains to be observed at high resolution in the far-infrared, searches for the elusive gauche conformer can now be undertaken with considerably greater confidence in the dense ro-vibrational spectrum of the trans form.

Supercritical CO 2 is an appealing nontoxic, environmentally friendly solvent for the industrial extraction of many classes of compounds, from caffeine to natural product drug precursors to petrochemical impurities. Apolar in isolation, the ability of supercritical CO 2 to dissolve polar species has been empirically shown to be greatly enhanced by the addition of a small molar percentage of a polar cosolvent, often ethanol. Computational work predicts that the isolated ethanol-CO 2 complex can exist either in an electron-donor configuration or through a hydrogen-bonding one; yet, neither has been previously experimentally observed. Here, we demonstrate by rotational spectroscopy that the isolated, gas-phase ethanol-CO 2 dimer is an electron donor-acceptor complex.

The equilibrium structure of germanium dicarbide GeC 2 has been an open question since the late 1950s. Although most high-level quantum calculations predict an L-shaped geometry, a T-shaped or even a linear geometry cannot be ruled out because of the very flat potential energy surface. By recording the rotational spectrum of this dicarbide using sensitive microwave and millimeter techniques, we unambiguously establish that GeC 2 adopts a vibrationally averaged T-shaped structure in its ground state. From analysis of 14 isotopologues, a precise r 0 structure has been derived, yielding a Ge-C bond length of 1.952(1) Å and an apex angle of 38.7(2)°.

The rotational spectrum of the elusive but fundamentally important silicon carbide SiCSi has been detected using sensitive microwave techniques aided by high-level ab initio methods. Its equilibrium structure has been determined to very high precision using isotopic substitution and vibrational corrections calculated quantum-chemically: it is an isosceles triangle with a Si-C bond length of 1.693(1) Å, and an apex angle of 114.87(5)°. Now that all four Si(m)C(n) clusters with m + n = 3 have been observed experimentally, their structure and chemical bonding can be rigorously compared. Because Si2C is so closely linked to other Si-bearing molecules that have been detected in the evolved carbon star IRC+10216, it is an extremely promising candidate for detection with radio telescopes.