Analysis of several high-resolution infrared bands of spiropentane, C5H8.

he high-resolution infrared absorption spectrum of spiropentane (C5H8) has been measured from 200 to 4000 cm 1, and a detailed analysis is presented for eight bands in the region from 700 to 2200 cm 1. Two fundamental perpendicular bands were analyzed, m22 and m24 near 1050 and 780 cm 1, respectively, along with two fundamental parallel bands, m14 and m16 near 1540 and 990 cm1, respectively. Two other fundamentals, m17 and m23, are seen as intense overlapping bands near 880 cm*1 and are Coriolis-coupled, producing a complex mixture in which only P-branch transitions could be tentatively assigned for m17. In addition, three binary combination bands were fit at about 1570, 2082, and 2098 cm*1 which are assigned as either 2m24 or m5 + m16 in the first case, m4 + m22 in the second case, and 2m22 in the latter case. The two l-type resonance constants, q+ and q*, were determined for each of the two perpendicular fundamentals m22 and m24. Those two constants were also responsible for splittings observed in the K = 3 levels of m24. For the ground state the order of the split K = 2 B1/B2 levels has been reversed from that reported previously, based on the measurements and assignments for the m24 band. Rovibrational parameters deduced from the analyses are compared with those obtained from density functional Gaussian calculations at the anharmonic level.