Electronic structures of WAlO(y) and WAlO(y) (-) (y = 2-4) determined by anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations

The anion photoelectron spectra of WAlO(y) (-) (y = 2-4) are presented and assigned based on results of density functional theory calculations. The WAlO(2) (-) and WAlO(3) (-) spectra are both broad, with partially resolved vibrational structure. In contrast, the WAlO(4) (-) spectrum features well-resolved vibrational structure with contributions from three modes. There is reasonable agreement between experiment and theory for all oxides, and calculations are in particular validated by the near perfect agreement between the WAlO(4) (-) photoelectron spectrum and a Franck-Condon simulation based on computationally determined spectroscopic parameters. The structures determined from this study suggest strong preferential W-O bond formation, and ionic bonding between Al(+) and WO(y) (-2) for all anions. Neutral species are similarly ionic, with WAlO(2) and WAlO(3) having electronic structure that suggests Al(+) ionically bound to WO(y) (-) and WAlO(4) being described as Al(+2) ionically bound to WO(4) (-2). The doubly-occupied 3sp hybrid orbital localized on the Al center is energetically situated between the bonding O-local molecular orbitals and the anti- or non-bonding W-local molecular orbitals. The structures determined in this study are very similar to structures recently determined for the analogous MoAlO(y) (-)∕MoAlO(y) cluster series, with subtle differences found in the electronic structures S. E. Waller, J. E. Mann, E. Hossain, M. Troyer, and C. C. Jarrold, J. Chem. Phys. 137, 024302 (2012)].