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Letters to Nature

Nature 175, 79-80 (8 January 1955) | doi:10.1038/175079a0

Carbon–Carbon and Carbon–Hydrogen Distances in Simple Polyatomic Molecules

G. HERZBERG & B. P. STOICHEFF

  1. Division of Physics, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa. Sept. 27.
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A DEPENDENCE of bond distances on environment was first noticed when the carbon–carbon single-bond distance in methyl acetylene was compared with that in ethane1. In recent years, a wealth of material based mainly on infra-red and microwave spectra2 has confirmed this dependence. Still more recently, the study of high-resolution rotational Raman spectra has supplied further data (partly unpublished) on this dependence. It is the purpose of this communication to review briefly the results of the work on carbon–carbon and carbon–hydrogen distances.