Probing Chemical Bonding and Electronic Structures in ThO- by Anion Photoelectron Imaging and Theoretical Calculations.

Because of renewed research on thorium-based molten salt reactors, there is growing demand and interest in enhancing the knowledge of thorium chemistry both experimentally and theoretically. Compared with uranium, thorium has few chemical studies reported up to the present. Here we report the vibrationally resolved photoelectron imaging of the thorium monoxide anion. The electron affinity of ThO is first reported to be 0.707 ± 0.020 eV. Vibrational frequencies of the ThO molecule and its anion are determined from Franck-Condon simulation. Spectroscopic evidence is obtained for the two-electron transition in ThO-, indicating the strong electron correlation among the (7sσ)2(6dδ)1 electrons in ThO- and the (7sσ)2 electrons in ThO. These findings are explained by using quantum-chemical calculations including spin-orbit coupling, and the chemical bonding of gaseous ThO molecules is analyzed. The present work will enrich our understanding of bonding capacities with the 6d valence shell.