Knowledge Bank

Laser excitation and dispersed fluorescence spectra of the clusters of the type X-$CdCH3$, where X represents the inert gas atoms He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe, were recorded and analyzed. The vibrational structure in these spectra is consistent with a Cd-bonded inert gas atom and all the features in the spectra can be ascribed to excitation of the X-Cd stretching and the X-Cd-$CH3$ bending vibrations. The general trend in the electronic and vibrational structure of these clusters will be explained in terms of electron-electron repulsion, steric effect and incipient chemical bonding, from which we will deduce information about (i) the most likely configuration (i.e. linear or bent), and (ii) the relative strength of the van der Waals bond between the ground and excited electronic states of these clusters.