Trends in carbon 1s ionization energies for the linear alkanes have been investigated using third-generation synchrotron radiation. The study comprises CH(4), C(2)H(6), C(3)H(8), C(4)H(10), C(5)H(12), C(6)H(14), and C(8)H(18). Both inter- and intramolecular shifts in ionization energy have been determined from gas-phase spectra and ab initio calculations. The shifts are decomposed into initial-state and final-state contributions and are shown to relate to the fundamental chemical properties of group electronegativity and polarizability. By extrapolation, we predict C1s spectra of larger n-alkanes, converging toward isolated strands of polyethylene.

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.