The Use of Scaled Moments of Inertia in Experimental Structure Determinations of Polyatomic Molecules

Recently developed procedures for determining near-r(e) structures (r(m)(p)) from scaled ground-state moment of inertia data have been extended to general polyatomic molecules. A simple and general empirical method for correcting I-m(p) moments for the large vibration-rotation effects of deuterium substitution has been proposed and illustrated for a variety of polyatomic molecules. The correction requires utilization of a bond elongation parameter, delta r(D), whose experimental value is found to be approximately 0.003 angstrom, A theoretical justification of the approximation has been provided for linear triatomic molecules,