Molecular structure of alkali metal 4‐nitrobenzoates

The influence of lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium on the electronic system of the 4‐nitrobenzoic acid molecule was studied. The vibrational (FT‐IR, FT‐Raman) and NMR (¹H and ¹³C) spectra for 4‐nitrobenzoic acid salts of alkali metals were recorded. The assignment of vibrational spectra was done. Characteristic shifts of band wavenumbers and change in band intensities along the metal series were observed. Good correlation between the wavenumbers of the vibrational bands in the IR and Raman spectra for 4‐nitrobenzoates and ionic potential, electronegativity, atomic mass, and affinity of metals were found. The chemical shifts of protons and carbons (¹H, ¹³C NMR) in the series of studied alkali metal 4‐nitrobenzoates were observed too. Optimized geometrical structures of studied compounds were calculated by HF, B3PW91, B3LYP methods using 6‐311++G** basis set. The theoretical IR, Raman, and NMR spectra were obtained. The theoretical vibrational spectra were interpreted by means of potential energy distributions (PEDs) using VEDA 3 program. The calculated parameters were compared to experimental characteristic of studied compounds. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.