Electronic spectroscopy of jet-cooled HCP+: molecular structure, phosphorus hyperfine structure, and Renner-Teller analysis

Laser-induced fluorescence spectra of jet-cooled HCP(+) and DCP(+) have been obtained with the pulsed discharge technique using HCPDCP and argon precursor mixtures. Transitions involving all of the excited state vibrations have been observed and a set of vibrational constants has been obtained. High-resolution spectra of the (2)Pi(32) components of the 0(0) (0) bands of both isotopomers have been recorded, and these spectra show resolved phosphorus hyperfine structure which allowed the determination of the excited state Fermi contact parameter. The B values were used to obtain the ground and excited state effective geometric parameters as r(0) (")(CH)=1.077(2) A, r(0) (")(CP)=1.6013(3) A, r(0) (')(CH)=1.082(2) A, and r(0) (')(CP)=1.5331(3) A. A Renner-Teller analysis of the ground state vibrational energy levels obtained from the literature was attempted. All of the observed levels of DCP(+) and the majority of those of HCP(+) were satisfactorily fitted with a standard Renner-Teller model, but three HCP(+) levels showed large systematic deviations which could not be accommodated by reassignments or improvements in the Fermi resonance Hamiltonian. Further improvements in the theory or in the experimental data will be needed to resolve this discrepancy.