An Argon–Oxygen Covalent Bond in the ArOH+ Molecular Ion

The OH+ cation is a well‐known diatomic for which the triplet (3Σ−) ground state is 50.5 kcal mol−1 more stable than its corresponding singlet (1Δ) excited state. However, the singlet forms a strong donor–acceptor bond to argon with a bond energy of 66.4 kcal mol−1 at the CCSDT(Q)/CBS level, making the singlet ArOH+ cation 3.9 kcal mol−1 more stable than the lowest energy triplet complex. Both singlet and triplet isomers of this molecular ion were prepared in a cold molecular beam using different ion sources. Infrared photodissociation spectroscopy in combination with messenger atom tagging shows that the two spin isomers exhibit completely different spectral signatures. The ground state of ArOH+ is the predicted singlet with a covalent Ar−O bond. Singlet and triplet ArOH+ cations were both generated in a cold molecular beam experiment and their infrared spectra were measured. The singlet displays a strong donor–acceptor‐type chemical bond, making this species the global minimum of this molecular system at the highest levels of theory.