Rotational spectra and structures of the C6H6–HCN dimer and Ar3–HCN tetramer

A comparative study has been made of the rotational properties of C6H6–HCN and Ar3–HCN, observed with the Balle/Flygare pulsed beam, Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. C6H6–HCN is found to be a prolate symmetric top and Ar3–HCN an oblate one, both with the H in the middle. The rotational constants B0, DJ, and DJK of the parent species are 1219.9108(4) MHz, 1.12(3) kHz, and 18.32(8) kHz for C6H6–HCN, and 886.4878(1) MHz, 10.374(2) kHz, and 173.16(1) kHz for Ar3–HCN. Rotational constants are reported for the isotopic species C6H6–H13CN, ‐HC15N, and 13CC5H6–HC15N, and for Ar3–HC15N and ‐DCN. Analysis of the 14N hyperfine interaction χ finds its projection on the figure axis to be −4.223(4) MHz in C6H6–HCN and −1.143(2) in Ar3–HCN. They correspond to average projection angles θ between the HCN and figure axes of 15.2° and 45.3°, respectively. A pseudodiatomic analysis of the rotational constants gives the c.m. to c.m. distance to be 3.96 A in C6H6–HCN and 3.47 A in Ar3–HCN. While the rotational propert...