Determining the Molecular Shape of Progesterone: Insights from Laser Ablation Rotational Spectroscopy.

Herein, we present the first experimental observation of isolated progesterone, an endogenous steroid, placed in the gas phase by laser ablation and characterized in a supersonic expansion by Fourier transform microwave techniques. Guided by quantum-chemical calculations, we assigned the rotational spectrum of the most stable structure. The internal rotation of the acetyl methyl group led to the observation of A-E doublets in the spectrum, which were analyzed, resulting in a V barrier of 2.