Cβ-H stretching vibration as a new probe for conformation of n-propanol in gaseous and liquid states.

The development of potential probes to identify molecular conformation is essential in organic and biological chemistry. In this work, we investigated a site-specific C-H stretching vibration as a conformational probe for a model compound, 1,1,3,3,3-deuterated n-propanol (CD3CH2CD2OH), using stimulated photoacoustic Raman spectroscopy in the gas phase and conventional spontaneous Raman spectroscopy in the liquid state. Along with quantum chemistry calculations, the experiment shows that the CH2 symmetric stretching mode at the β-carbon position is very sensitive to the conformational structure of n-propanol and can serve as a new probe for all five of its conformers.

Identification of alcohol conformers by Raman spectra in the C-H stretching region.

The spontaneous polarized Raman spectra of normal and deuterated alcohols (C2-C5) have been recorded in the C-H stretching region. In the isotropic Raman spectra, a doublet of -CαH stretching vibration is found for all alcohols at below 2900 cm(-1) and above 2950 cm(-1). By comparing the experimental and calculated spectra of various deuterated alcohols, the doublets are attributed to the -CαH stretching vibration of different conformers.

Complete Raman spectral assignment of methanol in the C-H stretching region.

In this work, the Raman spectrum of gaseous methanol in the C-H stretching region was investigated by polarized Photoacoustic Raman spectroscopy (PARS). On the basis of the depolarization ratio measurement and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, a complete spectral assignment has been presented. The band at ~2845 cm(-1) was assigned to CH3 symmetric stretching, the bands at ~2925 and ~2955 cm(-1) were assigned to two Fermi resonance modes of CH3 bending overtones, and the bands at ~2961 and ~3000 cm(-1) were assigned to out-of-plane and in-plane vibrations of splitting CH3 antisymmetric stretching.