OBSERVATION OF NEW RING ISOMERS FOR CARBON CLUSTER ANIONS

High-resolution ion-mobility measurements have resolved a number of is omers for carbon cluster anions in the drift-time region previously as signed to monocyclic rings. Tight-binding calculations have been perfo rmed to generate feasible geometries, which were compared to the exper imental data by calculating their mobilities. Structures composed of a short chain of carbon atoms attached to a carbon ring are found to be the most plausible geometries for these new isomers. A number of diff erent bicyclic ring isomers have also been resolved for the first time .