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Science 20 January 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5759, p. 299
DOI: 10.1126/science.311.5759.299e
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This Week in Science

The assignment of gas-phase spectra to specific atomic motions for molecules with even as few as five or six atoms can prove challenging. Such assignments are of particular interest in piecing together the interactions of molecules in deep space, for which spectroscopic signatures are the sole source of data. Lee et al. (p. 365) take advantage of the unusual properties of solid para-hydrogen (p-H2) to simplify, and thus interpret, the vibrational spectrum of methanol. By embedding methanol in a matrix of the quantum solid, they prevent overall rotational motion but still observe internal torsion of the methyl group about the C-O bond.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)