THE INFLUENCE OF FLUORINATION ON STRUCTURE OF THE TRIFLUOROACETONITRILE WATER COMPLEX

Acetonitrile, chem{CH_3CN}, and trifluoroacetonitrile, chem{CF_3CN}, are symmetric tops. In a recent study of the rotational spectrum of the acetonitrile and water complex, it was observed that the structure was also an effective symmetric topfootnote{Lovas, F.J.; Sobhanadri, J. Microwave rotational spectral study of chem{CH_3CN-H_2O} and chem{Ar-CH_3CN}. textit{J. Mol. Spetrosc.} textbf{2015}, textit{307}, 59-64.}, with the external hydrogen freely rotating about the chem{O-H} bond aligned towards the nitrogen of the cyanide of chem{CH_3CN}. Unlike the chem{CH_3CN-H_2O} complex, the chem{CH_3CN-Ar} and chem{CF_3CN-Ar} complexes were observed to be asymmetric tops. Having a series of symmetric and asymmetric top complexes of acetonitrile and trifluoracetonitrile for comparison, we report the rotational spectrum of the weakly bound complex between trifluoroacetonitrile and water. Rotational constants and quadrupole coupling constants will be presented, and the structure of chem{CF_3CN-H_2O} will be revealed. linebreak linebreak SPOILER ALERT: It's an asymmetric top