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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are model systems for studying the mechanisms of lithium storage in carbonaceous materials. In this work, Li complexes of naphthalene, pyrene, perylene, and coronene were synthesized in a supersonic metal-cluster beam source and studied by zero-electron-kinetic-energy (ZEKE) electron spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. The adiabatic ionization energies of the neutral complexes and frequencies of up to nine vibrational modes in the singly charged cations were determined from the ZEKE spectra. The metal-ligand bond energies of the neutral complexes were obtained from a thermodynamic cycle. Preferred Li/Li+ binding sites with the aromatic molecules were determined by comparing the measured spectra with theoretical calculations. Li and Li+ prefer the ring-over binding to the benzene ring with a higher π-electron content and aromaticity. Although the ionization energies of the Li complexes show no clear correlation with the size of the aromatic molecules, the metal-ligand bond energies increase with the extension of the π-electron network up to perylene, then decrease from perylene to coronene. The trends in the ionization and metal-ligand bond dissociation energies of the complexes are discussed in terms of the orbital energies, local quadrupole moments, and polarizabilities of the free ligands and the charge transfer between the metal atom and aromatic molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group 3 metal-aniline complexes, M(aniline) (M = Sc, Y, and La), are produced in a pulsed laser-vaporization molecular beam source, identified by photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and investigated by pulsed-field ionization zero electron kinetic energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. Adiabatic ionization energies and several low-frequency vibrational modes are measured for the first time from the ZEKE spectra. Metal binding sites and electronic states are determined by combining the ZEKE measurements with the theoretical calculations. The ionization energies of the complexes decrease down the metal group. An out-of-plane ring deformation mode coupled with an asymmetric metal-carbon stretch is considerably anharmonic. Although aniline has various possible sites for metal coordination, the preferred site is the phenyl ring. The metal binding with the phenyl ring yields syn and anti conformers with the metal atom and amino hydrogens on the same and opposite sides of the ring, respectively. The anti conformer is determined to be the spectral carrier. The ground electronic state of the anti conformer of each neutral complex is a doublet with a metal-based electron configuration of nd2(n + 1)s1, and the ground electronic state of each ion is a singlet with a metal-based electron configuration of nd2. The formation of the neutral complexes requires the nd2(n + 1)s1 ← nd1(n + 1)s2 electron excitation in the metal atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]