Deuterated nitromethane was adsorbed onto four salt films-NaCl, NaBr, KCl, and KBr- inside a crysostat. FTIR spectra were taken in 5 K increments from 15 K to 140 K. The relative absorbances of each peak due to the fundamental vibrations of deuterated nitromethane were normalized and plotted versus temperature in the interest of detecting trends and comparisons were made. The peak widths at half height of each peak were also obtained, but only the values for the ~2317 cm-1 and ~2282 cm-1 peaks were used for further analysis. Thermodynamic quantities and Arrhenius parameters were calculated for these two peaks and compared to values obtained for the ~3077 cm-1 and ~3044 cm-1 peaks of non-deuterated nitromethane. Explanations for the similarities and differences in the data for the two compounds were then discussed.

Back to Theses List