title: Coulomb explosion upon electron attachment to a four-coordinate monoanionic metal complex.
abstract: Electron capture to monoanionic metal complexes in high-energy collisions with sodium vapor is shown to occur with the formation of dianions. In this way, we prepared the small dianions Cr(SCN)42-, Fe(CN)42-, Pt(NO2)22-, and Pt(C2O4)22- in the gas phase. The Cr(SCN)42- dianion Coulomb explodes into Cr(SCN)3- and SCN- with a release of kinetic energy (3.2 +/- 0.4 eV) into translational energy of the fragments. The scheme provides a way to study charge dissociation reactions of molecular dianions that are too short-lived to survive extraction from the ion source.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders Baardseth
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Preben
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hvelplund
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Steen Brøndsted
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomita