Evidence for stable Rydberg states in the presence of an electron scavenger: The ZEKE spectrum of the toluene·SF6 complex

ZEKE and MATI spectroscopies have been used to study the toluene·SF6 complex, revealing that high-n Rydberg states appear to be stable in the presence of a strong electron scavenger such as SF6. The lifetimes are significantly longer than predicted by the `free electron modelʹ, suggesting that the molecular collisions inherent in previous cross-beam studies are crucial for effecting electron transfer. The study also provided spectroscopic information on toluene·SF6, including the S1–S0 transition energy, 37 485.9±0.6 cm−1, and the adiabatic ionisation energy, 70 688.6±1.2 cm−1. Binding energies of 739±23, 731±23 and 1250±20 cm−1 were determined for the S0, S1 and D0 states, respectively.