Five projects are presented here that use Photoelectron Photoion Coincidence (PEPICO) Spectroscopy to determine high-accuracy thermochemical data on small and intermediate size molecules and radicals that are relevant in modeling combustion and atmospheric processes. Some of the experiments were carried out on the laboratory-based Threshold PEPICO (TPEPICO) apparatus which has the advantage of having a low-temperature inlet system and unlimited measurement time, while most of the projects involved the use of the Imaging PEPICO (iPEPICO) apparatus at the Swiss Light Source, which is capable to determine ionic dissociation energies to sub-kJ/mol accuracy. The iPEPICO on the synchrotron beamline was also useful where measurements required energies in excess of 14 eV. The modeling framework of PEPICO is based on the RRKM statistical theory of dissociation kinetics and statistical energy distributions and models complex dissociation pathways to extract both kinetics and thermochemical data from the experiment. In the first project, we measured the onsets of Br- and I-loss reactions for C 2 H 5 Br and C 2 H 5 I using TPEPICO, respectively. The heats of formations of the two molecules are related through the ethyl cation, which was used in their determination. The second project involved measuring Cl-loss from four S i O j Cl k compounds viz. SCl 2 , S 2 Cl 2 , SOCl 2 , and SO 2 Cl 2 to obtain reliable thermochemistry. The second Cl-loss from S 2 Cl 2 + and SOCl 2 + helped us conclude that assuming three-dimensional translational degrees of freedom yields a more reliable statistical model of product-energy distributions. The third project investigated methanol and its isotopologues to explore the dissociation pathways through the H/D-losses. The 0 K appearance energies were used to determine the accurate heat of formation of CH 2 OH and the proton affinity of formaldehyde. The fourth project explores the dissociation pathways of cis -1-bromopropene, trans -1-bromopropene, 2-bromopropene, 3-bromopropene and bromocyclopropane to find that except for 2-bromopropene, all other isomers dissociate into the allyl cation. To derive accurate thermochemical information on the neutral precursors, a mixed theoretical and experimental thermochemical network was used to determine their 0 K heats of formation. The last project involves measurements on dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) and dimethyl diselenide, which are the simplest models that can be used to study disulfide and diselenide linkages. There are several discrepancies in the thermochemistry of DMDS, whereas ours is the first experimental attempt to study the ionic thermochemistry of dimethyl diselenide experimentally.

<p>In this thesis we have performed core-electron spectroscopy studies of gas phase molecular systems starting with smaller diatomic, continuing with triatomic and extending our research to more complex polyatomic ones. We can subdivide the results presented here into two categories: the first one focusing on electronic fine structure and effect of the chemical bonds on molecular core-levels and the other one dealing with nuclear dynamics induced by creation of a core hole. In our research we have mostly used synchrotron radiation based techniques such as X-ray Photoelectron (XPS), X-ray Absorption (XAS), normal and Resonant Auger (AES and RAS, respectively) and Energy-Selected Auger Electron PhotoIon COincidence (ES-AEPICO) spectroscopies.</p><p>We have demonstrated that resonant Auger spectroscopy can be used to aid interpretation of the features observed in XAS for Rydberg structures in the case of Cl₂ and C1s⁻¹π*¹ states of allene molecules. The combined use of high-resolution spectroscopy with <i>ab initio</i> calculations can help the interpretation of strongly overlapped spectral features and disentangle their complex profiles. This approach enabled us to determine the differences in the lifetimes for core-hole 2p sublevels of Cl₂ which are caused by the presence of the chemical bond. We have shown that contribution in terms of the Mulliken population of valence molecular orbitals is a determining factor for resonant enhancement of different final states and fragmentation patterns reached after resonant Auger decays in N₂O.</p><p>We have also performed a systematic study of the dependence of the C1s resonant Auger kinetic energies on the presence of different substituents in CH₃X compounds. For the first time we have studied possible isomerization reaction induced by core excitation of acetylacetone. We could observe a new spectral feature in the resonant Auger decay spectra which we interpreted as a signature of core-excitation-induced keto-enol tautomerism.</p>

In this thesis we have performed core-electron spectroscopy studies of gas phase molecular systems starting with smaller diatomic, continuing with triatomic and extending our research to more complex polyatomic ones. We can subdivide the results presented here into two categories: the first one focusing on electronic fine structure and effect of the chemical bonds on molecular core-levels and the other one dealing with nuclear dynamics induced by creation of a core hole. In our research we have mostly used synchrotron radiation based techniques such as X-ray Photoelectron (XPS), X-ray Absorption (XAS), normal and Resonant Auger (AES and RAS, respectively) and Energy-Selected Auger Electron PhotoIon COincidence (ES-AEPICO) spectroscopies. We have demonstrated that resonant Auger spectroscopy can be used to aid interpretation of the features observed in XAS for Rydberg structures in the case of Cl2 and C1s−1π*1 states of allene molecules. The combined use of high-resolution spectroscopy with ab initio calculations can help the interpretation of strongly overlapped spectral features and disentangle their complex profiles. This approach enabled us to determine the differences in the lifetimes for core-hole 2p sublevels of Cl2 which are caused by the presence of the chemical bond. We have shown that contribution in terms of the Mulliken population of valence molecular orbitals is a determining factor for resonant enhancement of different final states and fragmentation patterns reached after resonant Auger decays in N2O. We have also performed a systematic study of the dependence of the C1s resonant Auger kinetic energies on the presence of different substituents in CH3X compounds. For the first time we have studied possible isomerization reaction induced by core excitation of acetylacetone. We could observe a new spectral feature in the resonant Auger decay spectra which we interpreted as a signature of core-excitation-induced keto-enol tautomerism.