excited states with T 0 = 30 210 and 32 274 cm −1 , respectively. Each electronic transition has partially resolved rotational and extensive vibrational structure with an extended progression in the metal−ligand stretch at a frequency of ∼450 cm −1 . There are also progressions in the in-plane bend in the 7 B 2 state, due to vibronic coupling, and the out-of-plane bend in the 7 B 1 state, where the calculation illustrates that this state is slightly non-planar. Electronic structure computations at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ and TD-DFT B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) level are also used to characterize the ground and excited states, respectively. These calculations predict a ground state Mn-O bond length of 2.18 Å. Analysis of the experimentally observed vibrational intensities reveals that this bond length decreases by 0.15 ± 0.015 Å and 0.14 ± 0.01 Å in the excited states. The behavior is accounted for by the less repulsive p x and p y orbitals causing the Mn + to interact more strongly with water in the excited states than the ground state. The result is a decrease in the Mn-O bond length, along with an increase in the H-O-H angle. The spectra have well resolved K rotational structure. Fitting this structure gives spin-rotation constants ε aa = −3 ± 1 cm −1 for the ground state and ε aa = 0.5 ± 0.5 cm −1 and aa = −4.2 ± 0.7 cm −1 for the first and second excited states, respectively, and A = 12.8 ± 0.7 cm −1 for the first excited state. Vibrationally mediated photodissociation studies determine the O-H antisymmetric stretching frequency in the ground electronic state to be 3658 cm −1 .

Vibrational spectra of M(+)(CH4)m(Ar)(3-m) and M(+)(CH4)n (M = Co, Ni; m = 1, 2; n = 3, 4) in the C-H stretching region (2500-3100 cm(-1)) are measured using photofragment spectroscopy, monitoring the loss of argon or methane. Interaction with the metal leads to large red shifts in the C-H stretches for proximate hydrogens. The extent of this shift is sensitive to the coordination (η(2) vs η(3)) and to the metal-methane distance. The structures of the complexes are determined by comparing measured spectra with those calculated for candidate structures at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) level. Binding energies are also computed using the CAM-B3LYP functional. In all cases, CH4 shows η(2) coordination to the metal. The m = 1 complexes show very large red shifts of 370 cm(-1) (for M = Co) and 320 cm(-1) (for M = Ni) in the lowest C-H stretch, relative to the symmetric stretch of free CH4. They adopt a C2v structure with the heavy atoms and proximate hydrogen atoms coplanar. The m = 2 complexes have slightly reduced red shifts, and Tee-shaped structures. Both Tee-shaped and equilateral (or quasi-equilateral) structures are observed for the n = 3 complexes. The measured photodissociation onset and significantly reduced intensity for low-frequency C-H stretches imply a value of 2650 ± 50 cm(-1) for the binding energy of Ni(+)(CH4)2-CH4. The Co(+)(CH4)4 complexes have two low-lying structures, quasi-tetrahedral and distorted square-planar, which contribute to the rich spectrum. In contrast, the symmetrical, square-planar Ni(+)(CH4)4 complex is characterized by a very simple vibrational spectrum.