Context : HD 144277 was previously discovered by Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars ( MOST ) space photometry to be a young and hot \delta  Scuti star showing regular groups of pulsation frequencies .
The first asteroseismic models required lower than solar metallicity to fit the observed frequency range based on a purely photometric analysis .

Aims : The aim of the present paper is to determine , by means of high-resolution spectroscopy , fundamental stellar parameters required for the asteroseismic model of HD 144277 , and subsequently , to refine it .

Methods : High-resolution , high signal-to-noise spectroscopic data obtained with the HARPS spectrograph were used to determine the fundamental parameters and chemical abundances of HD 144277 .
These values were put into context alongside the results from asteroseismic models .

Results : The effective temperature , T _ { \mathrm { eff } } , of HD 144277 was determined as 8640 ^ { +300 } _ { -100 } K , \log g  is 4.14 \pm 0.15 and the projected rotational velocity , { \upsilon } \sin i , is 62.0 \pm 2.0 \mathrm { km s } ^ { -1 } .
As the { \upsilon } \sin i  value is significantly larger than previously assumed , we refined the first asteroseimic model accordingly .
The overall metallicity Z was determined to be 0.011 where the light elements He , C , O , Na , and S show solar chemical composition , but the heavier elements are significantly underabundant .
In addition , the radius of HD 144277 was determined to be 1.55 \pm 0.65 R _ { \odot } Â from spectral energy distribution ( SED ) fitting , based on photometric data taken from the literature .

Conclusions : From the spectroscopic observations , we could confirm our previous assumption from asteroseismic models that HD 144277 has less than solar metallicity .
The fundamental parameters derived from asteroseismology , T _ { \mathrm { eff } } , \log g , L/ L _ { \odot } Â and R/ R _ { \odot } Â agree within one sigma to the values found from spectroscopic analysis .
As the { \upsilon } \sin i  value is significantly higher than assumed in the first analysis , near-degeneracies and rotational mode coupling were taken into account in the new models .
These suggest that HD 144277 has an equatorial rotational velocity of about 80 \mathrm { km s } ^ { -1 } Â and is seen equator-on .
The observed frequencies are identified as prograde modes .