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This chapter deals with results from gas phase experiments on mononuclear gold compounds, although there will not be too much discussion of gold in an organic chemistry context. Mass spectrometry in combination with laser spectroscopic techniques has made a wealth of experimental data on gold complexes available. Such experiments can yield deep and detailed insight into the chemistry of gold, since the target systems are very well defined and circumvent the difficulties associated with solvent interaction and speciation that complicate many experiments in condensed phase environments. Moreover, gas phase experiments can serve to validate computational and theoretical approaches to gold chemistry. We discuss experimental approaches to bring gold compounds into the gas phase, and we showcase data on complexes with atomic and molecular ligands, as well as studies on the reactivity of gold ions.

We report infrared photodissociation spectra of [Sn(CO 2 ) n ] (n=2-6) clusters. We explore core ion geometries through quantum chemical calculations and assign our experimental spectra through comparison with calculated vibrational frequencies. We discuss our results in the context of heterogeneous catalytic reduction of CO 2 , and compare our results with previous work on other post-transition metal species.

We report infrared photodissociation spectra of [Bi(CO 2 ) n ] − (n = 2 − 9) cluster anions. We determine the charge carrier geometry by comparing calculated vibrational frequencies based on density functional theory to the experimental spectra. The vibrational frequencies and the charge carrier geometry depend strongly on the solvation environment present in the cluster. We discuss the interaction of bismuth and CO 2 in the presence of an excess electron in the context of heterogeneous catalytic reduction of CO 2 .