Infrared Spectroscopy and Structure of (NO)n Clusters

Nitrogen oxide clusters (NO)n have been studied in He droplets via infrared depletion spectroscopy and by quantum chemical calculations. The ν1 and ν5 bands of cis-ON-NO dimer have been observed at 1868.2 and 1786.5 cm(-1), respectively. Furthermore, spectral bands of the trimer and tetramer have been located in the vicinity of the corresponding dimer bands in accord with computed frequencies that place NO-stretch bands of dimer, trimer, and tetramer within a few wavenumbers of each other. In addition, a new line at 1878.1 cm(-1) close to the band origin of single molecules was assigned to van der Waals bound dimers of (NO)2, which are stabilized due to the rapid cooling in He droplets. Spectra of larger clusters (n > 5), have broad unresolved features in the vicinity of the dimer bands. Experiments and calculations indicate that trimers consist of a dimer and a loosely bound third molecule, whereas the tetramer consists of two weakly bound dimers.