15min:

CHRISTOPHER T. KINGSTON, ANTHONY J. MERER, Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z1; THOMAS D. VARBERG, Department of Chemistry, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN 55105.

The electronic spectrum of NiCN has been observed in the visible region following the reaction of laser-ablated nickel with either (CN)₂ or CH₃CN under supersonic jet-cooled conditions. High resolution LIF experiments have shown that the ground state is ² _5/2, with B₀ = 0.1444334(30) cm^-1; using data taken with CH₃C¹⁵N, the bond lengths are found to be r₀ (Ni-C) = 1.8292(37)~Å ~and r₀ (C-N) = 1.1591(52)~Å. The vibrational structure of the ground state is an excellent example of strong Fermi resonance. Four excited electronic states have been identified. They are assigned as ò _5/2 at 16607 cm^-1, B² _3/2 at 16686 cm^-1, C² _7/2 at 17813 cm^-1 and D² _5/2 at 19129 cm^-1. The electronic structure of NiCN turns out to be remarkably similar to that of NiH .