Evaluation of Molecular Quadrupole Moments

Abstract

Knowledge of the molecular quadrupole moments may be used to propose a better model for the structure of the molecule and could also provide a crucial test for the accuracy of the trial wave functions that are used in other molecular calculations. A general survey of the different methods available for the evaluation of molecular quadrupole moments has been made and their relative merits and demerits have been discussed. It is suggested that the quadrupole moments determined by the microwave linewidth data are probably more reliable. The quadrupole moments of different molecules known to data have been tabulated.