Electronic structures of transition metal sandwich complexes revisited by high-resolution laser spectroscopy coupled with DFT

Laser photoionization spectroscopy provides extremely high accuracy in determining ionization energies of jet-cooled bisarene complexes, metallocenes and mixed sandwich compounds as well as vibrational frequencies of free sandwich ions. Combined with DFT calculations, these experimental data give unique information on the structure– property relationships in sandwich molecules. New aspects of fine substituent effects as well as structural transformations of sandwich complexes on ionization are discussed.