Mass analyzed threshold ionization spectra of phenol...Ar2: ionization energy and cation intermolecular vibrational frequencies

The phenol(+)...Ar(2) complex has been characterized in a supersonic jet by mass analyzed threshold ionization (MATI) spectroscopy via different intermediate intermolecular vibrational states of the first electronically excited state (S(1)). From the spectra recorded via the S(1)0(0) origin and the S(1)β(x) intermolecular vibrational state, the ionization energy (IE) has been determined as 68,288 ± 5 cm(-1), displaying a red shift of 340 cm(-1) from the IE of the phenol(+) monomer. Well-resolved, nearly harmonic vibrational progressions with a fundamental frequency of 10 cm(-1) have been observed in the ion ground state (D(0)) and assigned to the symmetric van der Waals (vdW) bending mode, β(x), along the x axis containing the C-O bond. MATI spectra recorded via the S(1) state involving other higher-lying intermolecular vibrational states (σ(s)(1), β(x)(3), σ(s)(1)β(x)(1), σ(s)(1)β(x)(2)) are characterized by unresolved broad structures.