Ubiquitous T-shaped isomers of OCS-hydrocarbon van der Waals complexes

Many weakly bound OCS-hydrocarbon complexes exhibit a relatively simple rotation-vibration band, characteristic of a T-shaped structure, which is redshifted (by 5-12 cm(-1)) from the OCS monomer nu(1) frequency. Spectra of OCS with seven chain and ring hydrocarbons are described here. They allow a straightforward comparison of intermolecular force effects (vibrational shift and intermolecular separation) over a range of molecules, which could be extended to other hydrocarbons and other probes such as CO(2) and N(2)O.