Diode laser spectroscopy of the CCl radical

Vibration-rotation transitions of the fundamental band have been observed for both C³⁵Cl and C³⁷Cl in the ${}^2\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ and ${}^2\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ states by using an infrared diode laser spectrometer with Zeeman modulation. A few lines of the “hot” band (v = 2 ← 1) have also been recorded for C³⁵Cl. From an analysis of the observed spectra improved values were obtained for the vibrational harmonic frequency and anharmonicity constant, rotational constants, and Λ-doubling parameters. It was found necessary to take into account centrifugal distortion effects on the spin-orbit coupling constant A in the analysis, which gave $\text{(}\text{dA}\text{dr}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>e</mtext>}}\text{r}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>e</mtext>}}$ to be ?176 ± 38 or ?125 ± 38 cm^?1, depending upon whether ²Σ^? or ²Σ⁺ states contribute more to the Λ-type doubling. The equilibrium internuclear distance r_e was calculated from the derived rotational constants to be 1.64506 ± 0.00016 Å.