The structure of molecules in relation to their optical anisotropy.—Part II—Benzene and cyclohexane

In Part I the view was advanced that the optical anisotropy of the molecules of a gas which is evidenced by the depolarisation of the light scattered by it can to a large extent be attributed to the mutual influence of the doublets induced in the different atoms of the molecule by the electrical field of the incident radiation. Assuming that each atom is isotropic, and assuming the refractivity and anisotropy of the molecules of hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, the atomic refractivity and the distance apart between the “optical centres” was calculated in these cases. Extending the treatment to the case of triatomic molecules with the three atoms in a straight line, and using the previously obtained values for the atomic refractivities of nitrogen and oxygen and the diamond value of the atomic refractivity of carbon, the optical anistropies of the gases N2O, CO2 and CS2 were calculated. The corresponding values of the depolarisation of the transversely scattered light were found to be in fair agreement with experiment. In this paper the work is extended to the two organic molecules, benzene and cyclohexane.