title: Detection and structure of HOON: microwave spectroscopy reveals an O-O bond exceeding 1.9 Å.
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.
authors: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors: Kyle N
authors: KN
authors: Crabtree
authors: Marat R
authors: MR
authors: Talipov
authors: Oscar
authors: O
authors: Martinez
authors: Gerard D
authors: GD
authors: O'Connor
authors: Sergey L
authors: SL
authors: Khursan
authors: Michael C
authors: MC
authors: McCarthy