Detection and structure of HOON: microwave spectroscopy reveals an O-O bond exceeding 1.9 Å.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 24337293.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.1244180.
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Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO) reacts with hydroxyl radicals (OH) in the gas phase to produce nitrous acid, HONO, but essentially nothing is known about the isomeric nitrosyl-O-hydroxide (HOON), owing to its perceived instability. We report the detection of gas-phase HOON in a supersonic molecular beam by Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy and a precise determination of its molecular structure by further spectroscopic analysis of its (2)H, (15)N, and (18)O isotopologs. HOON contains the longest O-O bond in any known molecule (1.9149 ± 0.0005 Å) and appears surprisingly stable, with an abundance roughly 3% that of HONO in our experiments.