Direct Determination of the Ionization Energies of PtC, PtO, and PtO2 with VUVRadiation

Photoionization efficiency curves were measured for gas-phase PtC, PtO, and PtO2 using tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation at the Advanced Light Source. The molecules were prepared by laser ablation of a platinum tube, followed by reaction with CH4 or N2O and supersonic expansion. These measurements providethe first directly measured ionization energy for PtC, IE(PtC) = 9.45 +- 0.05 eV. The direct measurement also gives greatly improved ionization energies for the platinum oxides, IE(PtO) = 10.0 +- 0.1 eV and IE(PtO2) = 11.35 +- 0.05 eV. The ionization energy connects the dissociation energies of the neutral and cation, leading to greatly improved 0 K bond dissociation energies for the neutrals: D0(Pt-C) = 5.95 +- 0.07 eV, D0(Pt-O)= 4.30 +- 0.12 eV, and D0(OPt-O) = 4.41 +- 0.13 eV, as well as enthalpies of formation for the gas-phase molecules Delta H0 f,0(PtC(g)) = 701 +- 7 kJ/mol, Delta H0f,0(PtO(g)) = 396 +- 12 kJ/mol, and Delta H0f,0(PtO2(g)) = 218 +- 11 kJ/mol. Much of the error in previous Knudsen cell measurements of platinum oxide bond dissociation energies is due to the use of thermodynamic second law extrapolations. Third law values calculated using statistical mechanical thermodynamic functions are in much better agreement with values obtained from ionization energies and ion energetics. These experiments demonstrate that laser ablation production with direct VUV ionization measurements is a versatile tool to measure ionization energies and bond dissociation energies for catalytically interesting species such as metal oxides and carbides

Vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization of small methanol and methanol-water clusters

In this work we report on thevacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization of small methanol and methanol-water clusters. Clusters of methanol with water are generated via co-expansion of the gas phase constituents in a continuous supersonic jet expansion of methanol and water seeded in Ar. The resulting clusters are investigated by single photon ionization with tunable vacuumultraviolet synchrotron radiation and mass analyzed using reflectron mass spectrometry. Protonated methanol clusters of the form (CH3OH)nH + (n=1-12) dominate the mass spectrum below the ionization energy of the methanol monomer. With an increase in water concentration, small amounts of mixed clusters of the form (CH3OH)n(H2O)H + (n=2-11) are detected. The only unprotonated species observed in this work are the methanol monomer and dimer. Appearance energies are obtained from the photoionization efficiency (PIE) curves for CH3OH +, (CH 3OH)2 +, (CH3OH)nH + (n=1-9), and (CH 3OH)n(H2O)H + (n=2-9 ) as a function of photon energy. With an increase in the water content in the molecular beam, there is an enhancement of photoionization intensity for methanol dimer and protonated methanol monomer at threshold. These results are compared and contrasted to previous experimental observations

Experimental observation of guanine tautomers with VUV photoionization

Two methods of preparing guanine in the gas phase, thermal vaporization and laser desorption, have been investigated. The guanine generated by each method is entrained in a molecular beam, single photon ionized with tunable VUV synchrotron radiation, and analyzed using reflectron mass spectrometry. The recorded photoionization efficiency (PIE) curves show a dramatic difference for experiments performed via thermal vaporization compared to laser desorption. The calculated vertical and adiabatic ionization energies for the eight lowest lying tautomers of guanine suggest the experimental observations arise from different tautomers being populated in the two different experimental methods