a b s t r a c tThe microwave spectrum of phthalimide (PhI) was measured in the 4.8-9.5 GHz range using a FlygareBalle type, pulsed-beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. Rotational transitions were measured for the parent and all unique single 13 C substituted isotopologues. The rotational (MHz), centrifugal distortion (kHz), and quadrupole coupling constants (MHz) were determined for the parent to be A = 1745.6655(10), B = 1199.3309(6), C = 711.0864 (3), D J = 0.012 (7), D JK = À0.05(9), 1.5v aa = 2.719(11), and 0.25(v bb À v cc ) = 1.236(3). Using the measured rotational constants of the isotopologues, a nonlinear least squares fit was performed to obtain the best fit gas phase structure. The inertial defect is D = À0.175 amu Å 2 , indicating a planar structure for PhI.Calculations using B3LYP/aug-cc-pVQZ provided rotational constants which are much closer to the experimental values compared to the MP2/6-311++G ** calculated values.