Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy can be used to investigate the small structural changes brought about by the formation of new hydrogen bonds in small water complexes formed in adiabatic expansions. Here we report on the rotational spectra of guaiacol (2-methoxyphenol), its isotopologues, and its argon and water complexes in the range of 10.5-21 GHz. Quantum chemical calculations and the spectroscopic data indicate that the guaiacol monomer exists in the anti-syn form, with an intramolecular hydrogen bond from the hydroxyl group to the methoxy oxygen. Quantum chemical calculations predict that the guaiacol monomer retains its anti-syn planar structure in the guaiacol�argon complex, but the C-O-C-C torsional angle in guaiacol is significantly increased, forming a gauche-syn structure, in the lowest energy guaiacol-water complex. The observed rotational spectra of guaiacol-argon and guaiacol-water will be used to experimentally identify the structure of the guaiacol monomer within these complexes.

Microwave spectroscopic investigation of hydrogen bonding networks in guaiacol and its van der Waals complexes

246th National Meeting (2013)

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