Search for: All records

The ionization energies (IEs) of RuC, RhC, OsC, IrC, and PtC are assigned by the measurement of their two-photon ionization thresholds. Although late transition metal–carbon bonds are of major importance in organometallic chemistry and catalysis, accurate and precise fundamental thermochemical data on these chemical bonds are mainly lacking in the literature. Based on their two-photon ionization thresholds, in this work, we assign IE(RuC) = 7.439(40) eV, IE(RhC) = 7.458(32) eV, IE(OsC) = 8.647(25) eV, IE(IrC) = 8.933(74) eV, and IE(PtC) = 9.397(32) eV. These experimentally derived IEs are further confirmed through quantum chemical calculations using coupled-cluster single double perturbative triple methods that are extrapolated to the complete basis set limit using a three-parameter mixed Gaussian/exponential extrapolation scheme and corrected for spin–orbit effects using a semiempirical method. The electronic structure and chemical bonding of these MC species are discussed in the context of these ionization energy measurements. The IEs of RuC, RhC, OsC, and IrC closely mirror the IEs of the corresponding transition metal atoms, suggesting that for these species, the (n + 1)s electrons of the transition metals are not significantly involved in chemical bonding.

Resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) spectroscopy has been used to measure the bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of the diatomic transition metal nitrides ScN, TiN, YN, MoN, RuN, RhN, HfN, OsN, and IrN. Of these, the BDEs of only TiN and HfN had been previously measured. Due to the many ways electrons can be distributed among the d orbitals, these molecules possess an extremely high density of electronic states near the ground separated atom limit. Spin–orbit and nonadiabatic interactions couple these states quite effectively, so that the molecules readily find a path to dissociation when excited above the ground separated atom limit. The result is a sharp drop in ion signal in the R2PI spectrum when the molecule is excited above this limit, allowing the BDE to be readily measured. Using this method, the values D0(ScN) = 3.905(29) eV, D0(TiN) = 5.000(19) eV, D0(YN) = 4.125(24) eV, D0(MoN) = 5.220(4) eV, D0(RuN) = 4.905(3) eV, D0(RhN) = 3.659(32) eV, D0(HfN) = 5.374(4) eV, D0(OsN) = 5.732(3) eV, and D0(IrN) = 5.115(4) eV are obtained. To support the experimental findings, ab initio coupled-cluster calculations extrapolated to the complete basis set limit (CBS) were performed. With a semiempirical correction for spin–orbit effects, these coupled-cluster single double triple-CBS calculations give a mean absolute deviation from the experimental BDE values of 0.20 eV. A discussion of the periodic trends, summaries of previous work, and comparisons to isoelectronic species is also provided.

Two-photon ionization thresholds of RuB, RhB, OsB, IrB, and PtB have been measured using resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy in a jet-cooled molecular beam and have been used to derive the adiabatic ionization energies of these molecules. From the measured two-photon ionization thresholds, IE(RuB) = 7.879(9) eV, IE(RhB) = 8.234(10) eV, IE(OsB) = 7.955(9) eV, IE(IrB) = 8.301(15) eV, and IE(PtB) = 8.524(10) eV have been assigned. By employing a thermochemical cycle, cationic bond dissociation energies of these molecules have also been derived, giving D0(Ru+–B) = 4.297(9) eV, D0(Rh+–B) = 4.477(10) eV, D0(Os–B+) = 4.721(9) eV, D0(Ir–B+) = 4.925(18) eV, and D0(Pt–B+) = 5.009(10) eV. The electronic structures of the resulting cationic transition metal monoborides (MB+) have been elucidated using quantum chemical calculations. Periodic trends of the MB+ molecules and comparisons to their neutral counterparts are discussed. The possibility of quadruple chemical bonds in all of these cationic transition metal monoborides is also discussed.