An ab initio study of the molecular structure and vibration-rotation spectrum of the triplet radical HCCN

The bent triplet cyanocarbene H-C-CN and the linear triplet allene H-C=C=N have been studied by the CASSCF and CI methods, using a DZP basis. Relaxation of all geometrical parameters for the CASSCF energy results in a bent molecule with CCH angle 133° and a barrier to linearity of 6.4 kcal/mol, which was lowered to 2.3 kcal/mol in a subsequent CI calculation. The Davidson correction lowered it further to 1.8 kcal/mol.A 26-term analytical potential energy surface (PES) was fitted to CASSCF, CI, and Davidson corrected CI energies in 94 different geometries. Using these three potentials, the semi-rigid bender model predicts a CCH bending frequency of 782, 505, and 503 cm^–1, resp., which compares favourably with an experimentally observed IR transition line at 458 cm^–1. For the deuterated species, the corresponding frequencies are 610, 407, and 402 cm^–1, to be compared with two possible absorption lines at 405 and 317.5 cm^–1.The PES was then parametrized by adding a variable CCH angle dependence, and a comprehensive vibration-rotation spectrum was calculated variationally, using the exact 4-atom vibration-rotation kinetic Hamiltonian, for a range of barrier heights. Comparison with experiment indicates a barrier in the range 1±0.5 kcal/mol.Dedicated to Professor J. Koutecký on the occasion of his 65th birthday