THE STRUCTURE OF $CO_{2}-N_{2}O$ DETERMINED BY FOURIER TRANSFORM MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPY OF THE $^{15}N^{14}$NO-CONTAINING ISOTOPOMER

Abstract

In both the $infrared^{a}$ and previous $microwave^{b}$ studies of the van der Waals molecule $CO_{2} - N_{2}O$, it was impossible to resolve experimentally the structural ambiguity concerning the orientation of the $N_{2}O$ subunit in this approximately slipped parallel complex. Isotopic substitution of the outer nitrogen in the $N_{2}O$ results in a microwave spectrum that is consistent with a structure in which the terminal oxygen of the $N_{2}O$ is closer to the central carbon of the $CO_{2}$. Substitution coordinates derived from Kraitchman's equations support this conclusion. This experimentally determined structure is in agreement with the conclusion reached on the basis of ab initio results used in conjunction with the earlier infrared $work.^{a}$