Investigations of Raman spectra Part I—The Raman spectra of sulphuric, nitric, and nitrosylsulphuric acids

Apart from the large amount of research undertaken to prove the existence of nitrosylsulphuric acid as an intermediate product in the manufacture of sulphuric acid by the lead chamber process, many researches have been made to determine the composition and constitution of the molecule. Whilst it is universally agreed that the empirical formula is HNSO5 there is diversity of opinion on the molecular configuration and four different molecular structures are to be found in the literature. The present work was undertaken in an endeavour to clarify the position and in the hope that, by correlating the results obtained by Raman spectroscopy with the large amount of existing chemical data, more definite conclusion could be drawn regarding the molecular structure.