High energy photoelectron spectroscopy of transition metal complexes. Part 1.—Bonding in substituted and unsubstituted first row carbonyls

Abstract

Core electron binding energies of a series of substituted and unsubstituted transition metal carbonyls are reported and interpreted using both ab initio and approximate molecular orbital calculations. The ESCA chemical shifts observed upon substitution are well reproduced by such calculations, although the rather poor prediction of the change in CO core binding energies on complex formation, together with the observation of unusually intense satellite peaks in the photoelectron spectra of the carbonyls suggests that orbital relaxation may be greater in complexed than in free CO.