The molecular structure of formyl fluoride in the gas-phase as determined from electron diffraction and microwave data

Abstract

The molecular structure of formyl fluoride was determined from electron diffraction data and the microwave rotational constants of HFCO, DFCO, HF 13CO and HFC 18CO taken from the literature. The harmonic rotation—vibration correction B 0 (α) — B z (α) and the vibrational amplitudes were calculated from a GVFF adjusted to fit the vibrational frequencies of the parent and deuterated species. The resulting parameters of the planar molecule, r g bond distances and r av angles are: CO = 1.188 ± 0.004 Å, CF = 1.346 ± 0.003 Å, CH = 1.11 ± 0.02 Å, ∠ OCF = 122.3 ± 0.2° and ∠ OCH = 130 ± 4°, where the uncertainties represent estimated limits of total error.