Spectroscopic study of overtone and combination bands in aliphatic aldehydes

Overtone spectra of C–H stretching vibrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and n-butyraldehyde have been studied in liquid phase using conventional absorption and thermal lens techniques. The overtone bands up to Δν = 4 have been monitored using the conventional IR and NIR techniques and the band involving Δν = 7 of the C–H stretching vibration with thermal lens technique. The vibrational frequencies and the anharmonicity constants for C–H stretching vibrations of the methyl as well as of the aldehyde groups for all the three molecules have been determined using these data. We have also calculated the vibrational frequencies of fundamental bands and charge distribution on carbon and hydrogen atoms using ab initio methods and the results are compared with the experimental data.