Vibrational analysis and molecular structure of the hydrogen polyoxides, H2O3, H2O4, D2O3, and D2O4

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Abstract
The fundamental skeletal vibrations of the H2O3 and H2O4 molecules and their deuterated analogs have been identified in the infrared or Raman spectra of the trapped products from reactions in electrically dissociated water vapor and related systems. All the observed frequencies have been assigned on the basis of assumed molecular structures of C2 symmetry, consisting of skew chains of single‐bonded oxygen atoms with an OH group at each end. The assignments are consistent with the temperature behavior, 18O isotope shifts, and depolarization ratios of the various bands. Some unusual isotope effects were found in the deuterated species. A preliminary normal coordinate analysis of the skeletal vibrations of H2O3 and H2O4, including their 18O isotopic species, shows satisfactory agreement of the calculated and observed frequencies, thereby supporting the assumed molecular model. It also confirms that the bonding in these very unstable molecules is similar to that in H2O2.