THE STRUCTURE OF CO+CENTER-DOT-OCO

Rotationally-resolved resonant photodissociation of isolated Co . OCO ions has been observed for the first time. Analysis of low energy A(3 )Phi(4) <-- X(3)Delta(3) and a (1)Delta(2) <-- X(3)Delta(3) electronic transitions confirm the linear geometry for at least these three elec tronic states of the complex. The zero-point level of the ground (3)De lta(3) state exhibits a rotational constant of 0.05699 +/- 0.0005 cm(- 1) consistent with a center-to-center distance between the metal atom and the ligand (the Co+-C distance) of 3.17 +/- 0.01 Angstrom. This ex perimental result agrees completely with recent ab initio predictions of the ground-state geometry of this molecule. (C) 1998 Published by E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.