Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Ab Initio Calculations of CS3(-) Isomers: Carbon Trisulfide and Carbon Disulfide S-Sulfide Anions.

Carbon sulfides are known as a class of binary compounds that can exist in various isomeric and/or polymeric forms. As for a sulfur-rich compound with the composition formula CS3, two possible constitutional isomers have been proposed experimentally or theoretically for the neutral species and its corresponding radical cation and anion. Although the previous studies claim that one isomer has a carbon trisulfide (CS3) C-centered configuration and the other has a carbon disulfide S-sulfide (SCSS) chain configuration, they have not yet been fully identified by a spectroscopic method. In this study, we have prepared the anions of those isomers in the gas phase by employing two types of reactions: dissociative electron attachment to 1,3-dithiole-2-thione for CS3(-) formation and the S(-) + CS2 ion-molecule reaction for SCSS(-). Photoelectron spectroscopic measurements reveal that the reactions result in the production of two anionic species that can be well distinguished by their vertical detachment energy. With the aid of ab initio calculations, they are identified distinctively as the anions of carbon trisulfide and carbon disulfide S-sulfide.