The rotational spectrum of the 1:1 N,N-diethylhydroxylamine-water complex has been investigated using pulsed jet Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy in the 6.5-18.5 GHz frequency region. The most stable conformer has been detected as well as the 13C monosubstituted isotopologues in natural abundance and the 18O enriched water species, allowing to determine the nitrogen nuclear quadrupole coupling constants and the molecular structure in the vibrational ground state. The molecule has a Cs symmetry and the water lies in the bc symmetry plane forming two hydrogen bonds with the NOH frame with length: dHOH·NOH = 1.974 Å and dH2O·HON = 2.096 Å. From symmetry-adapted perturbation theory calculations coupled to atoms in molecule approach, the corresponding interaction energy values are estimated to be 24 and 13 kJ·mol-1, respectively. The great strength of the intermolecular interaction involving the nitrogen atom is in agreement with the high reactivity of hydroxylamine compounds at the nitrogen site.
Keywords: hydrogen bond; microwave spectroscopy; molecular structure; pulsed jet Fourier transform technique; quantum mechanical modelling; water complex.