The bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of the diatomic late transition metal borides (MB, M = Fe, Co, Ni, Ru, Rh, Os, Ir, and Pt) have been assigned from the measurement of a predissociation threshold using resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) spectroscopy. The open d-shell configurations of the transition metal constituents in the molecules studied here lead to large ML degeneracies, resulting in a dense manifold of states near the ground separated atom limit. This high density of states causes prompt predissociation to occur as soon as the ground separated atom limit is exceeded, allowing a precise assignment of the BDE of the molecule. The measured predissociation thresholds give BDEs of D0(FeB) = 2.43(2) eV, D0(CoB) = 2.954(3) eV, D0(NiB) = 3.431(4) eV, D0(RuB) = 4.815(3) eV, D0(RhB) = 5.252(3) eV, D0(OsB) = 4.378(3) eV, D0(IrB) = 4.928(10) eV, and D0(PtB) = 5.235(3) eV. The gaseous enthalpies of formation at 0 K for these molecules have been derived using a thermochemical cycle that relates atomic enthalpies of formation and the BDE of the molecule, giving ΔfH0K°(g) (FeB) = 733.6(12.2) kJ mol−1, ΔfH0K°(g) (CoB) = 695.1(12.2) kJ mol−1, ΔfH0K°(g) (NiB) = 652.1(14.7) kJ mol−1, ΔfH0K°(g) (RuB) = 740.2(12.7) kJ mol−1, ΔfH0K°(g) (RhB) = 600.1(12.7) kJ mol−1, ΔfH0K°(g) (OsB) = 921.7(13.6) kJ mol−1, ΔfH0K°(g) (IrB) = 748.0(13.6) kJ mol−1, and ΔfH0K°(g) (PtB) = 613.9(12.2) kJ mol−1. This work reports the first experimental measurements of the BDEs of FeB, CoB, NiB, and OsB. Periodic trends are discussed.

The bond dissociation energies of FeC, NiC, FeS, NiS, FeSe, and NiSe have been measured by the observation of a predissociation threshold in their resonant two-photon ionization spectra. Because the lowest separated atom limits generate a vast number of potential energy curves, it is thought that the molecules dissociate as soon as the ground separated atom limit is exceeded in energy. From the observed thresholds, dissociation energies have been measured as D(FeC) = 3.961(19), D(NiC) = 4.167(3), D(FeS) = 3.240(3), D(NiS) = 3.651(3), D(FeSe) = 2.739(6), and D(NiSe) = 3.218(3) eV. Through the use of thermochemical cycles, these values have been combined with other precisely known values to improve the accuracy of other quantities, providing: D(Fe-C) = 4.270(19) eV, D(Ni-C) = 3.435(3) eV, IE(FeS) = 8.06(4) eV, IE(NiS) = 8.82(4) eV, and D (Fe-S) = 2.92(10) or 2.89(10) eV, depending on the reference employed for EA(FeS). Comparisons to previous values are noted, when available. The periodic trends observed are discussed in terms of a molecular orbital diagram for these species. Finally, these results have also been used to calculate 0 K enthalpies of formation of the gaseous MX molecules.

Through the use of resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy, sharp predissociation thresholds have been identified in the spectra of CrO, MoO, RuO, and RhO. Similar thresholds have previously been used to measure the bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of many molecules that have a high density of vibronic states at the ground separated atom limit. A high density of states allows precise measurement of the BDE by facilitating prompt dissociation to ground state atoms when the BDE is exceeded. However, the number of states required for prompt predissociation at the thermochemical threshold is not well defined and undoubtedly varies from molecule to molecule. The ground separated atom limit generates 315 states for RuO, 252 states for RhO, and 63 states for CrO and MoO. Although comparatively few states derive from this limit for CrO and MoO, the observation of sharp predissociation thresholds for all four molecules nevertheless allows BDEs to be assigned as 4.863(3) eV (RuO), 4.121(3) eV (RhO), 4.649(5) eV (CrO), and 5.414(19) eV (MoO). Thermochemical cycles are used to derive the enthalpies of formation of the gaseous metal oxides and to obtain IE(RuO) = 8.41(5) eV, IE(RhO) = 8.56(6) eV, D0(Ru–O−) = 4.24(2) eV, D0(Cr–O−) = 4.409(8) eV, and D0(Mo–O−) = 5.243(20) eV. The mechanisms leading to prompt predissociation at threshold in the cases of CrO and MoO are discussed. Also presented is a discussion of the bonding trends for the transition metal oxides, which are compared to the previously measured transition metal sulfides.

The predissociation thresholds of the early transition metal boride diatomics (MB, M = Sc, Ti, V, Y, Zr, Nb, La, Hf, Ta, W) have been measured using resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) spectroscopy, allowing for a precise assignment of the bond dissociation energy (BDE). No previous experimental measurements of the BDE exist in the literature for these species. Owing to the high density of electronic states arising from the ground and low-lying separated atom limits in these open d-subshell species, a congested spectrum of vibronic transitions is observed as the energy of the ground separated atom limit is approached. Nonadiabatic and spin−orbit interactions among these states, however, provide a pathway for rapid predissociation as soon as the ground separated atom limit is reached, leading to a sharp decrease in signal to background levels when this limit is reached. Accordingly, the BDEs of the early transition metal borides have been assigned as D 0 (ScB) 1.72(6) eV, D 0 (TiB) 1.956( 16) eV, D 0 (VB) 2.150( 16) eV, D 0 (YB) 2.057(3) eV, D 0 (ZrB) 2.573(5) eV, D 0 (NbB) 2.989(12) eV, D 0 (LaB) 2.086(18) eV, D 0 (HfB) 2.593(3) eV, D 0 (TaB) 2.700(3) eV, and D 0 (WB) 2.730(4) eV. Additional insight into the chemical bonding and electronic structures of these species has been achieved by quantum chemical calculations.

Resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy has been employed to observe sharp predissociation thresholds in the spectra of the lanthanide sulfides and selenides for the 4f metals Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, and Lu. As these molecules possess a large density of electronic states near the ground separated atom limit, these predissociation thresholds are argued to coincide with the true 0 K bond dissociation energies (BDEs). This is because spin–orbit and nonadiabatic couplings among these states allow the molecules to predissociate rapidly when the BDE is reached or exceeded. The measured BDEs, in eV, are as follows: 5.230(3) (PrS), 4.820(3) (NdS), 4.011(17) (SmS), 3.811(8) (EuS), 5.282(5) (GdS), 5.292(3) (TbS), 4.298(3) (DyS), 4.251(3) (HoS), 4.262(3) (ErS), 5.189(3) (LuS), 4.496(3) (PrSe), 4.099(3) (NdSe), 3.495(17) (SmSe), 3.319(3) (EuSe), 4.606(3) (GdSe), 4.600(6) (TbSe), 3.602(3) (DySe), 3.562(3) (HoSe), 3.587(3) (ErSe), and 4.599(6) (LuSe). Through the use of thermochemical cycles, the 0 K gaseous heat of formation, ΔfH0K○, is reported for each molecule. A threshold corresponding to the onset of two-photon ionization in EuSe was also observed, providing the ionization energy of EuSe as 6.483(10) eV. Through a thermochemical cycle and the above reported BDE of the neutral EuSe molecule, the BDE for the Eu+-Se cation was also determined as D0(Eu+-Se) = 2.506(10) eV. Bonding trends of the lanthanide sulfides and selenides are discussed. Our previous observation that the transition metal sulfides are 15.6% more strongly bound than the corresponding selenides continues to hold true for the lanthanides as well.