LINEAR POLYATOMIC MOLECULE

Consider the molecule such as OCS, carbon oxysulphide or HC ≡ CCl, chloroacetylene where all the atoms lie on a straight line, gives simple rotational spectra. The discussion of diatomic molecule can be extended to linear polyatomic molecule. However the following points to be considered.

1) since the moment of inertia for the end - over - end rotation of a polyatomic linear molecule is considerably greater than that of diatomic molecule, the B value will be much smaller and the spectral lines are more closely spaced. Thus the B values for a diatomic molecules are about 10 cm⁻¹ and while for triatomic molecules they can be 1 cm⁻¹ or less and for larger molecules smaller still.

2) The molecule must possess a dipole moment to be microwave active. Thus OCS would be microwave active while OCO will not be active. Isotopic substitution will not lead to a dipole moment since the bond length and atomic charges will not be changed. Thus ¹⁶OC¹⁸O is microwave inactive.

3) A non-cyclic polyatomic molecule with N natural atoms will have N-1 bond distances to be determined. Thus in triatomic OCS molecule there's CO distance r꜀ₒ and the CS distance r꜀ₛ. But there's only one moment of inertia to be determined from the spectrum. From one value, two unknown r꜀ₒ and r꜀ₛ cannot be determined. But this problem will be overcome by isotopic substitution.

                             Consider the rotation of OCS. Below the figure shows the molecule where r₀, r꜀ and rₛ represent the distance of the atoms from the centre of gravity C.

m₀r₀ + m꜀r꜀ = mₛrₛ ................................ (1)
The moment of inertia is,
I = m₀r₀² + m꜀r꜀² + mₛrₛ² ......................(2)
and 
r₀= r꜀ₒ + r꜀ ;  rₛ = r꜀ₛ - r꜀  ........................ (3)

Where r꜀ₒ and r꜀ₛ are the bond lengths. Substitute equation (3) in equation (1) and we get,

m₀ ( r꜀ₒ + r꜀) + m꜀r꜀ = m꜀ (r꜀ₛ - r꜀)
m₀ r꜀ₒ + mₒr꜀ + m꜀r꜀ = mₛr꜀ₛ - mₛr꜀

( m₀ + m꜀ + mₛ) r꜀ = mₛr꜀ₛ - mₒr꜀ₒ
Mr꜀ = mₛr꜀ₛ - mₒr꜀ₒ  ................................ (4)

Where M is the total mass of th e molecule, substituting equation (3) in equation (2)

I = m₀ (r꜀ₒ + rc)² + m꜀r꜀² + mₛ(r ꜀ₛ - r꜀)²
= m₀r꜀ₒ² + m₀r꜀² + 2 m₀ r꜀ₒ r꜀ +m꜀r꜀² + mₛ r꜀ₛ² + mₛr꜀² −2mₛr꜀ₛ r꜀

= Mr꜀² + 2r꜀ ( m₀ r꜀ₒ - mₛ r꜀ₛ) + mₒ r² ꜀ₒ + mₛ r꜀ₛ²   ............................(5)

From equation (4)

r꜀ = ( mₛ r꜀ₛ - m₀ r꜀ₒ) /M .................. (6)

Substitute the value of r꜀ in equation (5)

I =  M (mₛm꜀ₛ − m₀m ꜀ₒ  ) +
             M²
 2 (mₛr꜀ₛ − m₀r꜀ₒ)(m₀r꜀ₒ− mₛ r꜀ₛ) +
                     M
        mₒr꜀ₒ² + mₛr꜀ₛ²
= m₀ r꜀ₒ² + mₛ r꜀ₛ² + [(m₀ r꜀ₒ)² − 2mₛ r꜀ₛ m₀ r꜀ₒ - 2( m꜀ ᵣ꜀ₛ)² − 2(m₀ r꜀ₒ )² +2m₀ r꜀ₒ mₛ r꜀ₛ ]/ M

I = m₀ r꜀ₒ² + mₛ r꜀ₛ - [ m₀ r꜀ₒ - mₛ r꜀ₛ ]/M
I = m₀ r꜀ₒ² + mₛ r ꜀ₛ² − [ m₀ r ꜀ₒ − mₛ r ꜀ₛ ]²/M
................(7)

Considering now the isotopic molecule 
¹⁸OCS, we may write m₀ for m₀ in the above equation. 

I' = m₀ r꜀ₒ² + mₛ r꜀ₛ² −[ m₀ r꜀ₒ − mₛ r꜀ₛ ]²/M' .................(8)

Using equation (7) and (8) we can solve for r꜀ₒ and r꜀ₛ provided we have obtained the value of l" from the microwave spectrum of the isotopic molecule. 


1 comment:

Thanks for reading