The carbon 1s ionization energies for all of the carbon atoms in 10 fluorine-substituted benzene molecules have been measured by high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy. A total of 30 ionization energies can be accurately described by an additivity model with four parameters that describe the effect of a fluorine that is ipso, ortho, meta, or para to the site of ionization. A similar additivity relationship describes the enthalpies of protonation. The additivity parameters reflect the role of fluorine as an electron-withdrawing group and as a pi-electron donating group. The ionization energies and proton affinities correlate linearly, but there are four different correlations depending on whether there are 0, 1, 2, or 3 fluorines ortho or para to the site of ionization or protonation. That there are four correlation lines can be understood in terms of the ability of the hydrogens at the site of protonation to act as a pi-electron acceptor. A comparison of the ionization energies and proton affinities, together with the results of electronic structure calculations, gives insight into the effects of fluorine as an electron-withdrawing group and as a pi donor, both in the neutral molecule and in response to an added positive charge.

Carbon 1s photoelectron spectra for CF4 and CO have been measured at several photon energies near the carbon 1s threshold. The spectra have been analyzed in terms of the vibrational structure and the natural linewidth. For CO the vibrational structure shows evidence for anharmonicity in both the energy spacing and the intensity. Analysis of the results using an anharmonic model gives an equilibrium bond length for core-ionized CO that is 4.85 pm shorter than that of neutral CO. For CF4, the vibrational structure is very weak, and the analysis shows that the change in equilibrium CF bond length upon ionization is no more than 0.54 pm. Ab initio theoretical calculations give results in accord with these bond-length changes. The unusually small bond-length contraction in CF4 can be understood in terms of nonbonded fluorine–fluorine repulsion. The natural linewidth for core-ionized CO, 95±5 meV, is essentially the same as that of CH4. This result is in contrast with expectations based on the one-center model of Auger decay and earlier predictions based on semiempirical molecular orbital theory. More recent calculations indicate, however, that there is only a small difference between CO and CH4, in agreement with the observed result. For CF4, the natural linewidth is 77±6 meV. This value differs from that for CH4 in the direction expected from the electronegativities of hydrogen and fluorine, but is greater than the prediction based on semiempirical theory. The natural linewidth for CO with a carbon 1s electron excited to the 2π resonance is 83 meV, which is significantly less than is found for core-ionized CO. Although this difference is supported by theoretical calculations, the direction of the difference is counterintuitive. An overview is presented of the current state of experimental and theoretical knowledge on carbon 1s linewidths.

The carbon 1s photoelectron spectrum of ethane, C 2 H 6 , has been measured at a photon energy of 329 eV and an instrumental resolution of 70 meV. The spectrum shows a rich vibrational structure which is resolved using least-squares fits to the data. Only C-H stretching and CCH bending modes contribute significantly to the spectrum. The lack of excitation of the C-C stretching mode is explained in terms of changes in hybridization at the spectator carbon. To investigate the possibility of incomplete localization of the core hole, the spectra of C 2 H 6 and C 2 D 6 were measured at higher experimental resolution (35 meV). The spectra are accurately fit by a model based on ab initio calculations of the vibrational energies and the geometry changes following ionization, and including vibronic coupling of the two degenerate, localized hole states. A small splitting on the order of 10-20 meV is found for the 2 A 2u and 2 A 1g core-ionized states.