Infrared band strengths and other properties of amorphous and crystalline dimethyl ether

Reggie L Hudson; Yukiko Y Yarnall; Falvia M Coleman

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2020.118217

Infrared band strengths and other properties of amorphous and crystalline dimethyl ether

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2020 Jun 5:233:118217. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.118217. Epub 2020 Mar 3.

Authors

Reggie L Hudson¹, Yukiko Y Yarnall², Falvia M Coleman³

Affiliations

¹ Astrochemistry Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. Electronic address: reggie.hudson@nasa.gov.
² Astrochemistry Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; NASA Postdoctoral Program, Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD 21046, USA.
³ Astrochemistry Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; InuTeq, LLC, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.

PMID: 32163876
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.118217

Abstract

Laboratory astrochemists have generated infrared (IR) data for nearly all common classes of organic compounds, but ethers in the solid phase continue to be neglected despite detections of ethers in the interstellar medium by radio astronomers and uncertainty in how extraterrestrial ethers are formed. To address this paucity of data, here we present new mid-IR spectra of amorphous and crystalline dimethyl ether, (CH₃)₂O, the simplest member of its class. Spectral positions are tabulated and compared to previous results, but more importantly we also report IR band strengths and absorption coefficients, which we have not found in the literature and on which quantitative IR studies depend. Optical constants of amorphous and crystalline dimethyl ether also have been calculated. Some applications are described.

Keywords: Amorphous solids; Astrochemistry; Band strengths; IR spectroscopy; Ices.

Published by Elsevier B.V.