STUDY OF IRON–CARBON MIXED CLUSTERS FeC n (n=2−5): A POSSIBLE LINEAR-TO-CYCLIC TRANSITION FROM FeC3 TO FeC4

Small Fe/C mixed clusters, [Formula: see text], are studied by anion photoelectron spectroscopy at 3.49-eV photon energy. The spectra of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] show well-resolved features and are consistent with linear-to-linear detachment transitions. The [Formula: see text] spectrum is quite broad, suggesting large geometry change from the anion to the neutral. Since [Formula: see text] is known to be linear, our data suggest that neutral FeC4 may have a cyclic structure. The spectrum of [Formula: see text] exhibits both sharp and broad features, consistent with the existence of both a linear and a cyclic isomer. A linear-to-cyclic structural transition is thus suggested to take place for the neutral FeCn clusters from n=3−4; for n<4 they are linear and for n≥4 they can be both linear and cyclic. This is similar to the linear-to-cyclic transition occurring for pure carbon clusters from n=9−10 (Ref. 10) but at a much smaller cluster size due to the presence of the Fe atom.