The harmonic force field and vibrational spectra of pyrrole

Abstract

The complete harmonic vibrational force field of pyrrole has been calculated by the ab initio gradient method at the Hartree-Fock level using the 4–21 basis set. The force field was then scaled with a set of six factors transferred from benzene, and the vibrational spectrum of pyrrole was calculated. This a priori prediction, made with no reference to observations on pyrrole, agreed with the known experimental fundamental frequencies with a mean deviation of 12 cm^-1 for in-plane modes and 20 cm^-1 for out-of-plane modes except for the NH wagging and NH stretch. A new set of ten scale factors was next obtained by direct fitting of the computed force field to the observed pyrrole spectrum, producing the best force field obtainable by combined use of the theoretical and experimental information. This force field reproduced the entire pyrrole spectrum with mean deviations of 4·2 cm^-1 (in-plane) and 5·9 cm^-1 (out-of-plane). The spectra of three deuterated forms of pyrrole were also computed. Infrared absorption intensities were calculated and proved very useful in examining assignments of the two ring torsional modes and the CH stretching modes.