Low-lying electronic states of cyclopentadienone

We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the low-lying electronic states of cyclopentadienone (C5H4O). The cyclopentadienone anion (C5H4O(-)) was generated in the gas phase via reaction of atomic oxygen radical anions (O(-)) with cyclopentanone (C5H8O). Photoelectron imaging was used to gain access to the first three electronic states of C5H4O, including the X (1)A1 ground state and the (3)B2 and (3)A2 excited states. The first two state assignments are supported by the Franck-Condon simulations of the vibrational progressions observed in the X (1)A1 and (3)B2 bands in the photoelectron spectra. The adiabatic electron affinity of cyclopentadienone in the ground state is determined to be EA(X (1)A1) = 1.06 ± 0.01 eV, and the corresponding values for the first two excited states are EA((3)B2) = 2.56 ± 0.02 eV and EA((3)A2) = 3.45 ± 0.01 eV. These experimental determinations are in excellent agreement with the CCSD(T) theory predictions, lending further confidence to the above state assignments. On the basis of these results, the lowest singlet-triplet splitting (between the X (1)A1 and (3)B2 states) in cyclopentadienone is ΔES-T = 1.50 ± 0.02 eV.