Spectroscopic properties of jet-cooled methanol clusters (n = 1-6) attached to anthracene

Measurements are reported of the S-0 --> S-1, and S-1 --> ion transition energies of jet-cooled anthracene, perturbed by contact with methanol clusters (n = 1-6). Comparisons are made with similar experiments on methanol clusters nucleated by perylene and benzene. The cluster anthracene/(CH3OH)(3) shows a much larger S-0 <-> S-1 red shift (527 cm(-1)) than n = 1,2,4,5,6. This suggests a distinct conformation for the n = 3 cluster, like the perylene case but unlike benzene, possibly involving a planar cyclic trimer species. Ionization threshold and photodissociation studies are used to confirm the species observed, and allow estimation of the binding energies. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.