A STUDY OF THE LARGE-AMPLITUDE MOTIONS OF INDOLINE THROUGH MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPY AND ABINITIO CALCULATIONS - EVIDENCE OF RING PUCKERING AND BUTTERFLY MOTION COUPLING

We report the gas phase microwave observation and subsequent analysis of the ring puckering level splitting of indoline and its N-D isotopomer. The spectra of the four lowest vibrational states are modelled through a two-dimensional vibrational Hamiltonian to furnish a coherent picture. According to this new picture, five-membered rings with a single double bond and five-membered rings in which the double bond is fused with a benzenic ring share a similar low ring puckering barrier. Discrepancies with previous work are ascribed to the use of a one-dimensional vibrational Hamiltonian. Ab initio calculations concur with the present analysis.