Influence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on OH-stretching overtone intensities and band positions in peroxyacetic acid.

Vapor phase absorption spectra and integrated band intensities of the OH stretching fundamental as well as first and second overtones (2ν(OH) and 3ν(OH)) in peroxyacetic acid (PAA) have been measured using a combination of FT-IR and photoacoustic spectroscopy. In addition, ab initio calculations have been carried out to examine the low energy stable conformers of the molecule. Spectral assignment of the primary features appearing in the region of the 2ν(OH) and 3ν(OH) overtone bands are made with the aid of isotopic substitution and anharmonic vibrational frequency calculations carried out at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level. Apart from features associated with the zeroth-order OH stretch, the overtone spectra are dominated by features assigned to combination bands composed of the respective OH stretching overtone and vibrations involving the collective motion of several atoms in the molecule resulting from excitation of the internal hydrogen bonding coordinate. Integrated absorption cross section measurements reveal that internal hydrogen bonding, the strength of which is estimated to be ∼20 kJ/mol in PAA, does not result in a enhanced oscillator strength for the OH stretching fundamental of the molecule, as is often expected for hydrogen bonded systems, but does cause a precipitous drop in the oscillator strength of its 2ν(OH) and 3ν(OH) overtone bands, reducing them, respectively, by a factor of 165 and 7020 relative to the OH stretching fundamental.