Anionic, cationic and neutral clusters of transition metals and aromatic or aliphatic ligands are studied in order to determine their structure and reactivity in molecular beam experiments.

By means of IR-photodetachment, IR multi photon dissociation and photo electron spectroscopy we analyze vibrational frequencies to characterise the structure of the anionic clusters. Neutral clusters can be analyzed by application of e.g. IR/PIRI method (cf. figure 3).

Analyses of metal clusters and aromatic ligands provide an insight into the transition from smaller molecular systems to models for nano-structured phases. A successive aggregation of ligands (e.g. benzene and ethanol) to metal clusters of different sizes can be investigated. The elementary processes on a molecular level provide a contribution for basic research on reactions catalyzed by metals. Mono-, bi-, tri-, and tetranuclear systems are analyzed in cooperation with other research groups within the SFB/TRR 88 to investigate cooperative effects with respect to spin states and catalysis.

Figure 1: Competing structural motifs for cationic clusters consisting of three cobalt atoms (yellow), ethanol, and water.

Figure 2: Different structures of  Co / Benzene clusters.