Millimeter-wave spectroscopy of carbonyl diazide, OC(N3)2

Millimeter-wave absorption spectra for carbonyl diazide (OC(N-3)(2)) are reported in the frequency range of 243-360 GHz, at both 293 K and 213 K. Transitions for two of the three possible conformations, one with both of the azide groups syn to the carbonyl group, or with one syn and the other anti, were observed in the spectra. Theoretical calculations at the CCSD(T)/ANO1 level do an excellent job of predicting the ground state rotational constants and 4th order centrifugal distortion terms for both conformers. Relative line intensities, along with theoretically predicted dipole moments, were used to estimate the energy difference of the two observed forms, yielding a result in good agreement with the ab initio potential energy surface. The spectra of the v(12), v(7), v(9) and 2v(12) excited vibrational states for the more abundant syn-syn conformer have been assigned, and a great many transitions for each of them have been fit using partial 6th and 8th order centrifugal distortion Hamiltonians. Anharmonic vibration-rotation interaction constants from the CCSD(T)/ANO1 calculations are in excellent agreement with the experimentally determined constants in the case of v(7) and v(9), but not for v(12). (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.