MILLIMETER WAVE SPECTRUM OF NITROMETHANE

Abstract A new study of the millimeter wave spectrum of nitromethane, CH3NO2, is reported. The new measurements covering the frequency range from 49 GHz to 237 GHz have been carried out using the spectrometer in IRA NASU (Ukraine). Transitions belonging to the |m| ≤ 8 torsional states have been analyzed using the Rho-axis-method and the RAM36 program, which has been modified for this study to take into account the quadrupole hyperfine structure due to presence of the nitrogen atom. A data set consisting of 5925 microwave line frequencies and including transitions with J up to 55 was fit using a model consisting of 97 parameters, and a weighted root-mean-square deviation of 0.84 was achieved. The analysis of the spectrum covers the m torsional states lying below the lowest small amplitude vibration in nitromethane molecule, which is the NO2 in plane rock at 475 cm−1. It serves as a preparatory step in further studies of intervibrational interactions in this molecule.