Bond energies of ThO+ and ThC+: A guided ion beam and quantum chemical investigation of the reactions of thorium cation with O-2 and CO

Abstract

Kinetic energy dependent reactions of Th+ with O-2 and CO are studied using a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer. The formation of ThO+ in the reaction of Th+ with O-2 is observed to be exothermic and barrierless with a reaction efficiency at low energies of k/k(LGS) = 1.21 +/- 0.24 similar to the efficiency observed in ion cyclotron resonance experiments. Formation of ThO+ and ThC+ in the reaction of Th+ with CO is endothermic in both cases. The kinetic energy dependent cross sections for formation of these product ions were evaluated to determine 0 K bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of D-0(Th+-O) = 8.57 +/- 0.14 eV and D-0(Th+-C) = 4.82 +/- 0.29 eV. The present value of D-0(Th+-O) is within experimental uncertainty of previously reported experimental values, whereas this is the first report of D-0(Th+-C). Both BDEs are observed to be larger than those of their transition metal congeners, TiL+, ZrL+, and HfL+ (L = O and C), believed to be a result of lanthanide contraction. Additionally, the reactions were explored by quantum chemical calculations, including a full Feller-Peterson-Dixon composite approach with correlation contributions up to coupled-cluster singles and doubles with iterative triples and quadruples (CCSDTQ) for ThC, ThC+, ThO, and ThO+, as well as more approximate CCSD with perturbative (triples) [CCSD(T)] calculations where a semi-empirical model was used to estimate spin-orbit energy contributions. Finally, the ThO+ BDE is compared to other actinide (An) oxide cation BDEs and a simple model utilizing An(+) promotion energies to the reactive state is used to estimate AnO(+) and AnC(+) BDEs. For AnO(+), this model yields predictions that are typically within experimental uncertainty and performs better than density functional theory calculations presented previously. Published by AIP Publishing.