15min:

WILTON L. VIRGO, TIMOTHY C. STEIMLE AND LAURA E. AUCOIN, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604; JOHN M. BROWN, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford, England OX1 3QZ.

Elucidating the structure and function of the chemically pervasive transition metal-carbon bond is a problem of both fundamental and applied scientific interest. Recent insight into the nature of the metal-carbon bond has been due to high-resolution gas-phase spectroscopy of the diatomic monocarbides, where measurement of permanent electric dipole moments and hyperfine structure are particularly informative. Ruthenium monocarbide has garnered recent interest due to its ease of production, intense visible electronic transitions and large magnetic hyperfine structure. We report on the investigation of the (0,0) $112.7$1³ ₂-$10.1$1³ ₃ and (0,0) $113.9$1³ ₁-$10.9$1³ ₂ band systems using high-resolution laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy. Stark shifts of the ¹⁰²RuC and ¹⁰⁴RuC isotopomers were analyzed to produce the magnitude of the permanent electric dipole moments for the ³ ₃,³ ₂,³ ₂ and ³ ₁ states. The measured moments prompt a discussion of the electronic structure and bonding in the ³ and ³ electronic states. Dipole moment trends are most informative when coupled to molecular orbital correlation diagrams. The measured dipole moments can be used as true benchmarks for rigorous electronic structure calculations. A comparison with isovalent FeC is made.