Internal methyl rotation and molecular structure of trifluorotoluenes: microwave rotational spectra of 2,3,4- and 2,4,5-trifluorotoluene

The microwave rotational spectra of 2,3,4- and 2,4,5-trifluorotoluenes, along with all 13C isotopic species in natural abundance, have been recorded in the frequency range 8-27 GHz employing pulsed jet Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. The analysis of the spectra in the lowest torsional state has yielded the rotational constants, centrifugal distortion constants, three fold barrier to methyl rotation and the direction of the internal rotation axis in the moment of inertia principal axes systems of these trifluorotoluenes. For both molecules, the molecular constants of their eight isotopologues have been used to obtain the substitution rs structures of the ring and the methyl-carbon. The potential barriers hindering the internal rotation of the methyl top in 2,3,4- and 2,4,5-trifluorotluene are 2.5878(80) kJ/mol and 2.2809(23) kJ/mol, respectively.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author