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Probing the bonding and structures of metal-organic radicals with zero energy electrons

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Abstract

Metal-organic radicals are reactive and transient because of the existence of unpaired valence electrons, and thus the characterization of these open-shell systems is challenging. In our work, the radicals are synthesized by the reaction of bare metal atoms and organic ligands in a laser-vaporization supersonic molecular beam source and characterized with pulsed-field ionization zero electron kinetic energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy. The molecular beam ZEKE technique routinely yields sub-meV spectral resolution and is a powerful means to study the molecular bonding and structures. This account presents several examples of single-photon ZEKE spectroscopic applications in determining metal binding modes and molecular conformations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506-0055, USA

    DongSheng Yang

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  1. DongSheng Yang
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Correspondence to DongSheng Yang.

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YANG DongSheng received his B.Sc. degree from Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China and Ph.D. degree from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. He is a professor of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA. His current research interests include laser-assisted synthesis, mass spectrometry, molecular spectroscopy, and computation of molecular clusters and ions. For further information, see: http://chem.as.uky.edu/.

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Yang, D. Probing the bonding and structures of metal-organic radicals with zero energy electrons. Sci. China Chem. 54, 1831–1840 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-011-4410-z

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