On the photoelectron spectrum of <i>p</i>-benzoquinone

Abstract

A high-resolution photoelectron spectrum of p-benzoquinone in the low energy (9.5–11.5 eV) region is reported and analyzed with the aid of simulations based on high-level ab initio calculations. The results generally support the notion that the two prominent spectral features in this region are each due to a pair of final ion states. The lower energy feature beginning near 10 eV is due to oxygen lone-pair ionizations, while that beginning near 11 eV comes from π electron removal. Contrary to previous interpretations of the spectrum, however, the results of this study indicate that the two π states are nearly degenerate, with the strongest peak in the photoelectron spectrum representing a convolution of the corresponding pair of 0–0 ionizations.