15min:
VIBRATIONAL FUNDAMENTALS OF GeCn CHAINS TRAPPED IN SOLID ARGON.

W. R. M. GRAHAM, D. L. ROBBINS AND C. M. L. RITTBY, Department of Physics and Astronomy,Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129.

Experimental and theoretical studies on the structures and vibrational fundamentals of a novel family of germanium-carbon clusters (GenCm) that were initiated with our earlier identification of the GeC3Ge cluster have now been extended to include GeCn chains. The new clusters, which are formed by the Nd-YAG laser ablation of germanium and graphite and are trapped in solid Ar at ~10 K, have been identified using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements coupled with density functional theory calculations (DFT). The assignment of carbon stretching fundamentals for GeC4, GeC7, and Ge9 will be discussed. FTIR measurements of 13C isotopic shifts for the assignments are in good agreement with the DFT predictions.