Double-ionization energies of some n-alkyl isocyanate molecules; studies with double-charge-transfer spectrometry and ab initio propagator theory

Double-charge-transfer (DCT) collisions of H+, OH+ and F+ 3 keV beam ions with a series of alkyl isocyanate molecules were studied using mass spectrometric techniques. Measurement of the kinetic energies of H- ions so produced enabled the determination of double-ionization energies (DIE) for transitions to singlet doubly ionized states of the target molecules; those for triplet doubly ionized states were obtained similarly from measurements of the kinetic energies of OH- and F- ions. Values up to approximately 40 eV were obtained in most cases and were found to be in close agreement with the predictions of ab initio calculations using propagator theory, also presented here. For n-butyl isocyanate (and by implication heavier molecules in the series) the density of doubly ionized states above 30 eV was both observed and predicted to be too large and featureless for meaningful analysis, so establishing an effective upper limit on molecular size for the current application of these techniques. Significant configuration interaction was predicted for the final doubly ionized states, which justified theoretical analysis with a relatively complex method that accounts well for correlation effects.