Microwave determination of the conformation and dipole moment of 1,3-difluoroacetone

The microwave spectra of the ground state and several low-lying vibrational modes of 1,3-difluoroacetone have been assigned and analyzed. The assigned form has a molecular conformation in which one fluorine atom lies cis and the other trans to the oxygen atom. The rotational constants of the ground state species were determined using a centrifugal distortion analysis: A = 6024.843 ± 0.006 MHz, B = 2454.414 ± 0.001 MHz, C = 1783.897 ± 0.001 MHz. The molecular dipole moment components of the ground state species lie along the a and b principal axes with μ_a = 2.38 ± 0.03 D, μ_b = 0.89 ± 0.03 D, and μ_T = 2.54 ± 0.03 D. Comparative intensity measurements with OCS microwave lines indicate that the assigned form constitutes only 20% to 30% of the total gas mixture, the remainder presumably consisting of one or more other conformers, perhaps the gauche-gauche form. The lowest vibrational frequency (82 ± 12 cm^?1) is attributed to the trans-CH₂F torsion, while the next-higher vibrational frequency (127 ± 15 cm^?1) is believed to be the cis-torsion. A low-frequency in-plane bending motion is found at 285 ± 25 cm^?1.