Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Natural Sciences
First Advisor
Shipman, Steven
Area of Concentration
Chemistry
Abstract
The rotational spectra of three molecules with some form of internal rotation were collected and analyzed via room temperature chirped pulse microwave spectroscopy. The first molecule, ethyl-cyanoformate, shows two stable gas phase conformers. Previous work on this molecule reported observation of an intermediate conformer in a Stark-modulated spectrometer. This conformer was not observed in the chirped pulse data. The second molecule, o- uorotoluene has a methyl rotor with a V3 barrier of 201 cm-1 which results in clear A/E splitting. This molecule has already been analyzed by this lab but the addition of the 18 - 26.5 GHz band and the development of the RAM36 program prompted a reanalysis. A global fit of the first three torsional states was achieved. Isoprene was the last molecule to be studied. The lower energy trans conformer was observed and fit while the gauche conformer was observed but not fully fit. This is a consequence of the gauche conformer having gauche - gauche' inversion as well as methyl rotation thus splitting each transition into four peaks. An attempt was performed in SPFIT but additional work is necessary.
Recommended Citation
Westefield, John H., "Internal Rotation of Small Molecules as Probed by Microwave Spectroscopy" (2018). Theses & ETDs. 5627.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5627