Abstract
THE electric dipole moments of the mono-halogen acetylenes are known to decrease to very small values as the electronegativity of the halogen decreases. The moment of bromo-acetylene, in particular, was reported to be indistinguishable from zero by Brockway and Coop1. Although no estimates of possible errors were stated for this molecule, the accuracy of the methods was in general such that the error was not expected to exceed 0.01 D. Tyler and Sheridan2 prepared and characterized iodo-acetylene, and were unable to detect its microwave spectrum in sensitive instruments, although the B0 value assumed was subsequently proved to be correct by rotational Raman spectroscopy3. Hence it was concluded that the dipole moment of iodo-acetylene is not more than 0.05 D, perhaps much less. In view of the improbability that bromo- and iodo-acetylene should both possess such small dipole moments, we have examined the microwave rotation spectrum of bromo-acetylene. This spectrum proved easy to observe and indicated that the dipole moment of the molecule is more than 0.01 D.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Brockway, L. O., and Coop, I. E., Trans. Farad. Soc., 34, 1429 (1938).
Tyler, J. K., and Sheridan, J., Trans. Farad. Soc., 59, 2661 (1963).
Jones, W. J., Stoicheff, B. P., and Tyler, J. K., Canad. J. Phys., 41, 2098 (1963).
Sheridan, J., and Gordy, W., J. Chem. Phys., 20, 735 (1952).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
JONES, H., OWEN, N. & SHERIDAN, J. Dipole Moment and Microwave Spectrum of Bromo-acetylene. Nature 213, 175 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213175a0
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/213175a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.