Dicyanogen, NCCN, is generated for spectroscopic investigations on-line from rubeanic acid, mercury(II)
cyanide, and cyanogen iodide and studied in the gas phase by two-dimensional Penning and He I photoelectron
spectroscopies, as well as ab initio calculations. From spectroscopic data, the interaction between NCCN and
He*(23S) atoms is deduced. The interaction potential for the similarly interacting NCCN−Li(22S) system is
obtained from ab initio calculations at the CCSD/6-311++G** level. Experimental and calculated results
show that the interaction potential is anisotropic around NCCN, is the most attractive in the nitrogen lone
electron pair region, and gradually changes into repulsive as the N−C−He*(or Li) angle opens up to 90°. An
unusual collision energy dependences of the partial ionization cross sections are observed, which is interpreted
by the unusual interaction potential. For assisting experimental data and studying collision dynamics, classical
trajectory calculations are performed for the Penning ionization of the NCCN−He*(23S) system. The
spectroscopic investigations predict the existence of thermodynamically stable MLi radicals, and the structure
and stability of NCCNLi isomers are calculated at the QCISD/6-311++G** level.