Unimolecular Decay of Metastable Cluster Anions: (O2)N−* → (O2) + O2

Unimolecular dissociation of metastable excited states of (O₂)_n^?* into (O₂) cluster anions has been detected and studied quantitatively for n in the range of 13 to 22. The apparent metastable (decay rates determined increase with cluster size in from ～ 5000 s^?1 (for n = 13) up to ～ 8500 s^?1 for n = 22).