DIPOLE BINDING - AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST FOR SMALL CLUSTER STRUCTURE CALCULATIONS

An experimental method for the discrimination between nearly degenerate isomers of size selected clusters of closed-shell polar molecules is presented. It is based upon electron attachment properties of dipole fields since a minimum value (≈2.5 D) of molecular dipoles is required for electron binding. When neutral clusters are created in different configurations only those with large enough resulting dipole moments bind electrons and give birth to stable anions. These dipole-bound anions have the geometries of their neutral parents which are here calculated within the framework of the exchange perturbation theory as developed by Claverie. Anions are created by Rydberg electron transfer to cold neutral clusters containing up to six molecules of acetonitrile, water, ammonia, or methanol. Structure and dipole moment calculations account well for the "magic" numbers observed in mass spectra distributions. Detailed comparisons between experimental data and calculated geometries lead to informations on the structure of several isomers of each studied neutral cluster. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.