Molecular quadrupole moment of naphtalene

Abstract

Measurements of the infinite-dilution molar field-gradient birefringence constant, Kerr constant and Cotton–Mouton constant of naphthalene as a solute in carbon tetrachloride at 298 K are reported. An analysis of the observations in conjunction with the known anisotropic molecular magnetisability of naphthalene yields the out-of-plane component of the quadrupole moment of this molecule. The quadrupole moments of naphthalene and benzene are related in proportion to the number of HC groups in these molecules, the result for napthalene (–45 × 10^–40 C m²) being very close to 8/6 times that previously found for benzene (–33.3 × 10^–40 C m²).