The nitronium ion is isoelectronic with carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, and has the same linear structure and bond angle of 180°. For this reason it has a similar vibrational spectrum to carbon dioxide. Historically, the nitronium ion was detected by Raman spectroscopy, because its symmetric stretch is Raman-active but infrared-inactive. The Raman-active symmetrical stretch was first used to identify the ion in nitrating mixtures.