The microwave spectrum of a second N-gauche rotamer of allylamine

The microwave spectra of the ground and five excited states of a second gauche rotamer of allylamine have been measured and assigned. Three of the excited states belong to the same mode, most probably the CC torsion, the second and third vibrational states present a symmetrical splitting due to tunneling effect. The spectrum was conclusively identified as due to the N-gauche, lone-electron-pair trans form by means of the N-quadrupole coupling constants and dipole moment components. The variation observed for the quadrupole coupling constants in the different vibrationally excited states was explained by a suitable model. The ground state constants are (in MHz) A₀ = 23 957.05 ± 0.048, B₀ = 4 229.96 ± 0.025, C₀ = 4 154.91 ± 0.025, χ_aa = ? 1.48 ± 0.04, χ_bb - χ_cc = ? 1.42 ± 0.04, and (in D) ∥μ_a∥ = 0.766 ± 0.010, ∥μ_b∥ = 0.700 ± 0.005, ∥μ_c∥ = 0.290 ± 0.020.The excited states of the N-cis, lone-electron-pair trans form were also measured and assigned; two of these states appear to belong to the CC torsion as indicated by their intertial defects. The potential hindering the internal CC rotation was calculated using the relative intensity data of the N-cis and N-gauche forms as well as the tunneling splittings. A three-term cosine potential was fitted to the data yielding (in cm^?1) V₁ = ? 77 ± 85, V₂ = 170 ± 126, V₃ = 663 ± 95. The Dennison-Uhlenbeck potential was used for an approximate calculation of the N-trans barrier separating the two identical N-gauche forms. The barrier obtained was 1.9 ± 0.3 Kcal/mole.