Criegee intermediates meet rotational spectroscopy

Carbonyl oxides, R1R2COO, alternatively known as Criegee intermediates (CIs), are short-lived molecules produced from ozonolysis of alkenes. These ozonolysis reactions yield highly excited CIs, and most of them promptly decay with emission of the OH radical and other products. Some of the nascent CIs are stabilised by collisional relaxation with surrounding molecules, and react with atmospheric trace constituents, such as SO2 and gaseous organic compounds, converting them to more highly oxygenated molecules relevant to formation of aerosols. Hence, reactions of CIs are of central interest for atmospheric chemists. Physico-chemical properties of CIs are strongly related to their geometrical and electronic structures, which are often discussed based on spectroscopic information. Especially, very high resolution rotational spectroscopy provides critical information about molecular structures and intramolecular dynamics, and also enables us to probe individual isomers, conformers, and isotopologues, with complete selectivity. This article reviews the rotational investigations carried out on several CIs, their bimolecular complexes and primary reaction products, focusing on their molecular structure, conformational behaviour and reactivity.