THE GAS-PHASE SOLVATION OF THE ZIRCONIUM-OXIDE ION - ZRO-DOT-CO2 AND ZRO+CENTER-DOT-N-2(CENTER)

ZrO+. CO2 and ZrO+. N-2 molecules have been synthesized in a molecular beam and spectroscopically characterized for the first time. Resonant photodissociation in a mass spectrometer is used to investigate the o ptical spectrum of the isolated ion. The spectra of these two ions are similar and show a single electron transition from the ground state w ith short upper-state progressions in three vibrational modes: the ZrO + solute stretch, the ZrO+<->CO2(N-2) complex stretch and the ZrO(+)no t less than CO2(N-2) complex bend. The diatomic (solute) stretching vi brational frequency is independent of solvent, but a significant red-s hift in the electronic origin is observed upon complexation which incr eases with increasing solvent binding energy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.