Photodissociation spectroscopy of gas-phase ferrocene cation

The optical absorption spectrum of gas-phase ferrocene cation was measured by photodissociation (PO) spectroscopy between 570 nm and 643 nm. The PO process was loss of a cyclopentadienyl ring from the parent cation. Some structure was observed in the PO spectrum, with the highest PO being at 603 nm. The peak spacing did not correspond to a vibrational progression in the expected totally symmetric vibrational mode, and a possible assignment of the three apparent maxima involving electronic transitions from low-lying electronic states is proposed. Information on the dissociation threshold was sought by light intensity dependence measurements at 308 nm, 266 nm, and time-resolved PD measurements at 308 nrn, 266 nrn, and 240 nm. The PD at all of these wavelengths showed two-photon characteristics, indicating that the threshold for observable one-photon PO lies higher than about 5.4 eV.