Electric dipole moments of thietane in excited states of the ring puckering vibration: an experimental and ab initio study

The electric dipole moment in the ground state (v_p = 0) and the first five excited states (v_p = 1 … 5) of the ring puckering vibration of thietane have been determined from Stark shifts of rotational transitions. The results are: 0|μ_a|0 = 1.87583(16) D, 1|μ_a|1 = 1.87341(18) D, 2|μ_a|2 = 1.89759(28) D, 3|μ_a|3 = 1.88688(29) D, 4|μ_a|4 = 1.90036(18) D, 5|μ_a|5 = 1.88596(59) D. The dependence of these values on v_p shows the zig-zagging behaviour typical of modes with double minimum potentials. A combined analysis of the ground and first excited states yielded also a precise value for the transition moment, 0|μ_c|1 = 0.24023(49) D.

A potential and electric dipole moment function has been derived from ab initio calculations, using MP2 and the 6–31G** basis set. Expectation values of the dipole and transition moments were determined from these data. Absolute values are about 5% in error, but the variation with vibrational state is reproduced excellently by the theoretical values.