Knowledge Bank

A newly-constructed, chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectrometer is used to obtain the microwave spectrum of 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, which has been proposed as an alternative to HFC-134a for use as a mobile air conditioning refrigerant. With a bandwidth of 6 GHz, this instrument has the potential to provide complete coverage of the microwave spectrum from 6 to 18 GHz in two steps, although smaller intervals may be utilized to increase the available power per unit bandwidth. Aided by \textit{ab initio} calculations, the rotational spectrum of the normal isotopologue of 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene is assigned and analyzed to give rotational and centrifugal distortion constants. With moderate signal averaging, the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum indicates that it should be possible to observe singly substituted $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">13</mrow>}$C isotopologues in natural abundance.