15min:

HOLGER S. P. MÜLLER AND EDWARD A. COHEN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109.

ClClO₂ is slightly higher in energy than its structural isomer ClOOCl, which has been implicated in polar ozone depletion processes. ClClO₂ may be formed from other Cl_xO_y compounds on or in stratospheric ices. Therefore, its millimeter and submillimeter spectrum has been studied in a flowing system as a product of the FClO₂ + HCl reaction. The pyramidal ClClO₂ is an asymmetric prolate top, \kappa = -0.7598 for ³⁵Cl³⁵ClO₂. It has C_s symmetry with a strong dipole component along the c-axis and a smaller one along the a-axis. The highest quantum numbers accessed are larger than 50 and 30 for J and K_a, respectively, permitting rotational and centrifugal distortion constants to be determined precisely. Splittings due to both Cl nuclei have been resolved, and a quadrupole analysis will be presented. The molecular structure has been derived from isotopomers involving ³⁵Cl and ³⁷Cl. The results will be compared with those from an earlier matrix-isolation study, from ab initio calculations,^a and from data of related molecules.