Is there evidence for detection of cyclic C4 in IR spectra? An accurate ab initio computed quartic force field

The quartic force field of cyclic C4 has been computed using basis sets of spdf quality and augmented coupled cluster methods. The effect of core correlation and further basis set extension has been investigated. Vibrational energy levels have been obtained using perturbation theory and two different variational approaches. A severe Fermi resonance exists between the most intense vibration, ν6, and ν3+ν5 through an exceptionally large k356=−258.2 cm−1; a large k1356 =−54.8 cm−1 causes significant higher-order anharmonicity, including a shift in ν6 of +9 cm−1. C4 appears to be an excellent test case for methods for solving the vibrational Schrödinger equation, since perturbation theory breaks down even when the above resonances are accounted for. Our best estimate for ν6, 1320±10 cm−1, may suggest its assignment to a feature detected at 1284 cm−1 in argon and 1302 cm−1 in krypton matrix, but this would imply an unusually large matrix red shift in argon.