title: The electronic spectrum of cryogenic ruthenium-tris-bipyridine dications in vacuo.
abstract: We report the electronic spectrum of the prototypical ruthenium coordination complex Ru(bpy)3 (2+) (bpy = 2, 2'-bipyridine) by messenger tagging with N2 in a cryogenic ion trap and photodissociation spectroscopy of mass selected Ru(bpy)3 (2+) ⋅ N2 ions. We observe individual electronic bands and groups of bands with unprecedented detail, particularly in the usually unresolved metal-to-ligand charge transfer region of the spectrum. By comparing our experimental results with time-dependent density functional theory, both with and without spin-orbit interaction [Heully et al., J. Chem. Phys. 131, 184308 (2009)], we are able to assign the spectrum of the isolated ion.
authors.affiliation: JILA and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: JILA and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
authors.forename: James E T
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: JILA and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
authors.forename: J Mathias
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Weber