Spectroscopic Characterization of Diazophosphane—A Candidate for Astrophysical Observations

Abstract

Quite recently, diazophosphane, HP−N≡N, was synthesized for the first time. This was accomplished by a reaction of PH3 with N2 under UV irradiation at 193 nm. As these two molecules have been observed in different astrophysical environments, as for example, in the circumstellar medium and, in particular, in the AGB star envelope IRC+10216, the question arises whether HPN2 can be found as well. So far there is only the aforementioned experimental work, but neither rotational nor rovibrational data are available. Hence, the lack of accurate line lists, etc. to identify diazophosphane is the subject of this work, including a detailed analysis of the rotational, vibrational, and rovibrational properties for this molecule. Our calculations rely on multidimensional potential energy surfaces obtained from explicitly correlated coupled-cluster theory. The (ro)vibrational calculations are based on related configuration interaction theories avoiding the need for any model Hamiltonians. The rotational spectrum is studied between T = 10 and 300 K. In contrast, the partition functions for HPN2 and DPN2 are given and compared for temperatures up to 800 K. In addition, more than 70 vibrational transitions are calculated and analyzed with respect to resonances. All these vibrational states are considered within the subsequent rovibrational calculations. This allows for a detailed investigation of the infrared spectrum up to 2700 cm−1 including rovibrational couplings and hot bands. The results of this study serve as a reference and allow, for the first time, for the identification of diazophosphane, for example, in one of the astrophysical environments mentioned above.