Electronic excitation in phosphorus-containing molecules. II. Inner shell electron energy loss spectra of PF5, OPF3 AND OPCl3

Electron energy loss Spectroscopy has been used to obtain the inner shell excitation spectra of PF₅, OPF₃ and OPCl₃ in the P 2p,2s (L-shell) region as well as in the respective ligand K shell (F 1s, O 1s) and L shell (Cl 2p and 2s) regions. The spectra are compared and contrasted with earlier reported spectra obtained on the trivalent phosphorus compounds (PH₃, PCl₃, PF₃ and P(CH₃)₃). The spectra were obtained using an impact energy of 2.5keV and a scattering angle of about 1°. The spectra reported here are typical of molecules with electronegative ligands in that the discrete portions of the spectra show strong transitions to virtual molecular orbitais. In addition, intense features are observed at or just beyond the ionization edge attributable to transitions to trapped inner well states, while broad features further into the continuum can be ascribed to σ^*(P—L) shape-resonances (L = ligand). This resonance assignment was supported by a comparison with the corresponding spectra for PF₃ and PCl₃.