Anion photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations were used to investigate the structural and bonding properties of Al 4 C 6 −/0 clusters. The vertical detachment energy of Al 4 C 6 − was measured to be 3.36 ± 0.08 eV. The structure of the Al 4 C 6 − anion is confirmed to be a bowl-shaped distorted triangle with an Al atom at the center and three Al atoms at the vertices. The global minimum isomer of neutral Al 4 C 6 has a planar triangleshaped structure with D 3h symmetry. Both anionic and neutral Al 4 C 6 have a hexacoordinated Al atom surrounded by three CC groups. Compared with the structure of neutral Al 4 C 6 , the structure of Al 4 C 6 − is distorted due to the addition of the excess electron. The molecular orbital analysis shows that the singly occupied molecular orbital of Al 4 C 6 − mainly locates on one side of the triangle plane and the neutral Al 4 C 6 has a large highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gap. Theoretical calculations indicate that neutral Al 4 C 6 has some aromaticity.
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