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Neodymium (Nd) complexes of benzene and naphthalene were synthesized in a laser-ablation supersonic molecular beam source. High-resolution electron spectra of these complexes were obtained using pulsed-field ionization zero electron kinetic energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy. Second-order Mo\ller-Plesset perturbation calculations were employed to aid spectral and electronic-state assignments. The adiabatic ionization energies were measured to be 38 081 (5) cm-1 for Nd(benzene) and 37 815 (5) cm-1 for Nd(naphthalene). For the Nd(benzene) complex, the observed frequencies of 831 and 286 cm-1 were assigned to C-H out-of-plane bending and Nd+-C6H6 stretching modes in the 6A1 ion state and 256 cm-1 to the Nd-C6H6 stretching mode in the 7A1 neutral state. To confirm these assignments, the ZEKE spectrum of the deuterated species was recorded, and the corresponding vibrational frequencies were measured to be 710 and 277 cm-1 in the ion state and 236 cm-1 in the neutral state. For the Nd(naphthalene) complex, the observed vibrational modes were C10H8 bending (394 cm-1), Nd+-C10H8 stretching (286 and 271 cm-1), Nd+-C10H8 bending (80 cm-1), and C10H8 twisting (105 cm-1) in the 6A′ ion state and metal-ligand bending (60 cm-1) and ligand twisting (55 cm-1) in the 7A′ neutral state. The formation of the ground state of the Nd(benzene) complex requires 4f → 5d and 6s → 5d electron excitation of the Nd atom, whereas the formation of the ground state of Nd(naphthalene) involves the 6s → 5d electron promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]