Volume 46, Issue 1 e27540
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Infrared Spectroscopy of Ethanethiol Monomers and Dimers at MP2 Level: Characterizing the Dimer Formation and Hydrogen Bond

Airan F. S. Brito

Airan F. S. Brito

Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

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Adelia J. A. Aquino

Adelia J. A. Aquino

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

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José Roberto dos Santos Politi

José Roberto dos Santos Politi

Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

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João B. L. Martins

Corresponding Author

João B. L. Martins

Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

Correspondence:

João B. L. Martins ([email protected])

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First published: 05 December 2024

Funding: The authors wish to thank the Federal District Research Support Foundation (FAPDF 00193-00000869/2021-31). This work has been partially supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, 306682/2021-4) and Universidade de Brasília (UnB).

ABSTRACT

Ethanethiol, also known as ethyl mercaptan, is an organosulfur compound that appears as a colorless liquid with a distinctive odor. It has been detected in the interstellar medium, and its self-association has been the subject of a few known experimental studies, where the SH vibrational mode was used. However, unlike the analogous ethanol dimer, the ethanethiol dimer has not been thoroughly explored theoretically. In this study, ethanethiol and dimers were investigated using the MP2 method with various basis sets to determine the properties and stability of these structures. For the monomer, both trans and gauche structures were computed, with the gauche conformer being more stable, consistent with the available data in the literature. Local mode decomposition analysis of monomers showed that the CH2 rocking mode, associated with the CSH bending, is present only for the gauche isomer aligning with the experimental assignments. Furthermore, eight stable dimer configurations were identified and categorized into three groups: trans–trans, gauche–gauche, and trans–gauche isomers. Among these, the trans–gauche isomer was found to be the most stable. Dispersion is the dominant term for the ethanethiol dimer.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated for this study can be found in the Supporting Information.

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