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Abstract
Gas phase clusters of lanthanide metal-cyclooctatetraene, iron-pyrene, iron-perylene, calcium-pyrene and calcium-coronene are produced in a molecular beam using laser vaporization in a pulsed nozzle cluster source. Cation and neutral clusters are studied with time-of-flight mass spectrometry and mass-selected photodissociation. Clusters produced ranged from simple metal-organic adducts to metal-hydrocarbon and metal-carbide fragments. The lanthanide metal-cyclooctatetraene clusters prefer different stoichiometries depending upon their preferred oxidation state, but all seem to form sandwich structures. Photodissociation spectra of the iron-pyrene and iron-perylene systems show elimination of neutral iron atoms as well as some destruction of and insertion into the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon ring system. The photodissociation spectra in the calcium-coronene system seem to show a preference for the calcium atoms binding individually to the coronene molecule. In the calcium-pyrene system, the expected fragmentation pattern for sandwich structures is observed as well as some pyrene ring destruction.