Methyl Torsion: An Overview

Authors: Srivastava AK* and d Swasti Saxena

DOI: 10.23880/macij-16000141

Volume 3, Issue 2

Abstract

In methylated molecules potential having multi minima arises due to the methyl group internal rotation about a single bond which encounters some stable as well as unstable conformations. In past years, the hindered motion of methyl group appeared as a quantum mechanical problem. Experimental as well as theoretical investigations have been carried out to understand the nature of the barrier due to the torsional motion using accurate prediction from ab initio calculations and FTIR, microwave and RAMAN spectroscopy. The barrier height for toluene is found to be of the order of a few wavenumbers whereas for ethane it is of the order of thousand wavenumbers. It is highly sensitive towards the chemical as well as electronic environment adjacent to the methyl group. Therefore, the methyl group internal rotation is an important subject to study the conformation and inter or intra-molecular dynamics and hence has attracted the attention from both physicists and chemists.

Keywords: Methylated Molecules; Theoretical; FTIR; Nature

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