S0 ring-puckering potential energy function for coumaran

With the aid of a reported inversion splitting value, the far-infrared spectrum resulting from the ring-puckering vibration of coumaran has been reassigned and the one-dimensional potential energy function has been determined. The barrier to planarity is 155 +/- 4 cm(-1) and the dihedral angle is 25 degrees . These results agree well with the millimeter wave spectra values of 152 cm(-1) and 23 degrees , which utilized different data and a different type of potential function for the calculations. The MP2/cc-pvtz ab initio values of 238 cm(-1) and 26.5 degrees agree more poorly. If the benzene ring is assumed to remain rigid, the calculated barrier drops to 204 cm(-1). The puckering potential functions for the ring-flapping and ring-twisting vibrationally excited states were also determined and the barriers were found to be 149 and 156 cm(-1), respectively.