FTIR and diode laser spectroscopy of isobutylene: Analysis of the rotational structure in the v28 fundamental band

Rotational structure in the fundamental band of isobutylene has been examined at room temperature using a combination of FTIR and Pb-salt diode laser instruments. The highest spectral resolution for the FTIR measurements was 0.125 cm⁻¹. Even at this resolution however, rotational structure for the band could be observed and appeared to possess a very regular pattern. A preliminary spectral assignment was obtained using the Watson/Gora asymptotic approximation for a rigid oblate asymmetric rotor. Within this approximation, the band origin was determined to be 890.937 (4) cm⁻¹. Excited state rotational constants, without the inclusion of centrifugal distortions terms, are A = 0.3033(16), B = 0.2801(12) and C = 0.15362 (8) cm⁻¹ respectively. Finally, a full set of spectroscopic constants, including quartic centrifugal distortion constants, were obtained for the band by including the high resolution Pb-salt spectra.