The new metal diatomics KAu and NaAu are studied using resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) electronic
spectroscopy. These species are produced by laser vaporization of a “salted” gold rod in a pulsed nozzle
cluster source. Analysis of the spectra provides the vibrational constants for the excited states and correlations
to specific atomic asymptotes. Energetic cycles provide determinations of the ground-state dissociation energies.
The values are D
0‘ ‘ = 2.75 ± 0.2 eV for KAu and D
0‘ ‘ = 2.64 ± 0.2 eV for NaAu. These dissociation
energies for the heteronuclear diatomics are significantly greater than those for the corresponding homonuclear
diatomics Na2, K
2, or Au2. Partial ionic character in the ground state bonding is implicated, analogous to that
observed previously for silver and copper-alkali diatomics.
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