Bond Length Alternation Observed Experimentally: The Case of 1H-Indazole

Bond length alternation is a chemical phenomenon in benzene rings fused to other rings, which has been mainly predicted theoretically. Its physical origin is still not clear and has generated discussion. Here, by using a strategy that combines microwave spectroscopy, custom-made synthesis and high-level ab initio calculations, we demonstrate that this phenomenon is clearly observed in the prototype indazole molecule isolated in the gas phase. The 1H-indazole conformer was detected by rotational spectroscopy, and its 17 isotopologues resulting from single and double heavy atom substitution (C-13 and N-15) were also unambiguously observed. Several experimental structures were determined and, in particular, the most useful semi-experimental equilibrium structure (r(e)(SE)), allowed determination of the heavy atom bond lengths to milli-angstrom ngstrom precision. The experimentally determined bond length alternation is estimated to correspond to 60:40 contributions from the two resonant forms of 1H-indazole.