Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.114, No.6, 2300-2305, 2010
Microwave and Quantum Chemical Study of Propargyl Thiocyanate (HC CCH2SC N)
The MW spectrum of propargyl thiocyanate (HC CCH2SC N) has been investigated for the first time in the 25-80 GHz spectral region at room temperature or at 0 degrees C. The spectra of the ground vibrational state and of the first excited state of the C-S torsional vibration have been assigned for one conformer. This rotamer, denoted ap, has a symmetry plane (C-s symmetry) and an antiperiplanar arrangement for the C-C-S-C link of atoms. It has previously been claimed that a conformer that has a synclinal conformation for this chain of atoms is present in the gas in approximately the same concentration as ap (similar to 50% of the gas), but this is not supported by the present experiments, where it is shown that the synclinal rotamer, denoted sc, cannot be present in a concentration exceeding 1/3 of the total. It is therefore concluded that ap must be at least 3.0 kJ/mol more stable than sc. The spectroscopic work has been augmented by quantum chemical calculations at advanced B3LYP/aug-cc-pVQZ, B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd), and MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ levels of theory. These theoretical calculations underestimate the energy difference between ap and sc and predict values for the conformationally important C-C-S-C dihedral angle of the hypothetical synclinal form that deviates by similar to 10 degrees.