DIPOLE BINDING TO A STRONGLY POLAR MOLECULE AND ITS HOMOGENEOUS CLUSTERS - MAGIC DISTRIBUTION OF ACETONITRILE CLUSTER ANIONS

We study charge transfer collisions between laser-excited xenon (nf, n p) Rydberg atoms and acetonitrile molecules and clusters. CH3CN- and ( CH3CN)3- anions are observed only in extremely narrow ranges of Rydber g n-values. The measurement of the electron binding energies of these anions shows that they are in dipole-bound states. The transition to s olvated electron behaviour corresponds to the appearance of more stron gly bound large anions (N > 10) which are created for a wide range of Rydberg-electron energies.