Adiabatic Electron Affinities of Oligophenyls: Anion Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Study

Adiabatic electron affinities (EAa’s) of seven oligophenyls: biphenyl (BP), 4-cyanobiphenyl (CNBP), o-terphenyl (o-TP), m-terphenyl (m-TP), p-terphenyl (p-TP), p-quaterphenyl (p-QP), and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (TPB), have been evaluated by anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. The result provides the direct determination of the EAa values of the isolated CNBP, p-TP, p-QP, and TPB molecules, while EAa of BP, o-TP, and m-TP were estimated from the extrapolation of EAa vs cluster size. The excellent agreement between the experimental and calculated EAa were obtained.