Secondary Isotope Effects in Molecular Structure

A study was made to determine whether secondary iso tope effects also occur in molecular structure. Electron diffraction studies were carried out on ethane and deuteroethane. In C/sub 2/H/sub 6/ the mean C-C and C-H bond lengths found agreed very closely with values determined for other paraffin hydrocarbons, and the C--H bond showed a normal primary isotope effect (~ 0.005 A) similar to that found in methane when H is replaced by O. The output of the leastsquares analysis suggested that the mean C-- C bond length in C/sub 2/D/sub 6/ is shorter than in C/sub 2/H/sub 6/ and by about 0.004 A. Th e decrease seemed to be real for the apparent uncertainty was not much greater than 0.001 A. (M.C.G.)