Vibrational spectra and force field of dimethylphosphines

Vibrational spectra in the range 200–3000 cm^?1 are reported and assigned for the species (CH₃)₂PH, (CH₃)₂PD, (CD₃)₂PH, (CD₃)₂PD, CH₃CD₃PH and CH₃CD₃PD. The spectra in the range 1020–500 cm^?1 are complicated due to the coupling between δPH, ?Me and the skeletal modes of the molecule. Interpretation is only possible through a force field which is markedly different from an earlier one of dimethyl sulphide. This force field predicts uncoupled δPH frequencies of 835 (a) and 909 cm^?1 (a), couples PH bending largely to out-of-skeletal plane methyl rocking (?_i) and includes a low p¦¦(a) bending constant, a high skeletal bending constant and unusual signs for two interaction constants. In the crystalline phase at 78 K, the two methyl groups are non-equivalent.