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The unstable acetonitrile N-oxide molecule, CH₃CNO, has been thermolytically generated in very high yield in the gas phase from its stable ring dimer, dimethylfuroxan, and studied by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, photoionization mass spectroscopy, and mid-infrared spectroscopy. The individual spectroscopies provide a detailed investigation into the vibrational and electronic character of the molecule, and are supported by both conventional ab initio calculations and density functional theory. The ground-state structure is also investigated by theory at the B3-LYP, MPn (n = 2−4), QCISD, and QCISD(T) levels with medium to large basis sets, and illustrates the need for a precise description of electron correlation. Given that both isomerization and dimerization are feasible loss processes for this unstable molecule, the relative stability of CH₃CNO with respect to the known cyanate (CH₃OCN), isocyanate …