Spatial Separation of the Conformers of Methyl Vinyl Ketone

Abstract

Methyl vinyl ketone (C${}_4$H${}_6$O) is a volatile, labile organic compound of importance in atmospheric chemistry. We prepared a molecular beam of methyl vinyl ketone with a rotational temperature of 1.2(2)~K and demonstrated the spatial separation of the \emph{s-cis} and \emph{s-trans} conformers of methyl vinyl ketone using the electrostatic deflector. The resulting sample density was $1.5(2)\times 10^8{\text{cm}}^{-3}$ for the direct beam in the laser ionization region. These conformer-selected methyl vinyl ketone samples are well suited for conformer-specific chemical reactivity studies such as in Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions.

Accepted by J. Phys. Chem. A. Manuscript: 5 pages, 3 figures; Supporting information: 3 pages, 5 figures

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