The microwave spectra and molecular structures of (E)-1-chloro-1,2-difluoroethylene and its complex with the argon atom

Abstract

The microwave spectra of four isotopologues of (E)-1-chloro-1,2-difluoroethylene, and additionally, the spectra of two isotopologues of the complex formed between argon and (E)-1-chloro-1,2-difluoroethylene are obtained in the 5.6–18.1 GHz region using broadband chirped pulse Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. The argon atom is determined to occupy a position out of the symmetry plane of the haloethylene where it can interact most strongly with the fluorine atom and the chlorine atom located geminal to each other as well as the π electron density at the end of the double bond on carbon atom C-1. As in the previously studied argon-2-chloro-1,1-difluoroethylene complex, the argon atom interacts most strongly with a fluorine atom and the chlorine atom regardless of whether they are located geminal or cis to each other.