Knowledge Bank

The products of the reactions between ablated transition metals and small hydrocarbons have been investigated using laser induced fluorescence. In the low resolution $(FWHM=0.05cm-1)$ spectrum of the products of ablated Pt with $C3H3$ or $CH4$ a series of weak features close to the $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">1</mrow>}\Pi \leftarrow 1\Sigma +$ band of $PtCa$ have been identified. These features are broad and exhibit no resolveable rotational structure. All the bands disappear when the $C3H3$ or $CH4$ is replaced with $NH3,H2$ or $CS2$. The dispersed fluorescence spectra of these bands displays a low frequency progression $(\omega e\approx 250cm-1)$ close to that observed in $Pt2$, however, they are not $Pt2bc$. On this basis, these features are tentatively assigned to $Pt2CHx$. Progress on the analysis of these bands, higher resolution work and new work on F*** and other transition metals with small hydrocarbons will be presented.