Electronic absorption spectra of C60+ –L (L = He, Ne, Ar, Kr, H2, D2, N2) complexes

Electronic spectra in the near infrared of C60+ with He, Ne, Ar, Kr, H2, D2 and N2 attached have been recorded below 10 K in a cryogenic radio frequency ion trap. Additional absorption bands are observed compared to the spectrum of C60+ –He. In the case of C60+ –N2, the strongest one of these shifts to lower energies by 21.3 cm−1 compared to the origin band of C60+ –He at 10378.5 cm−1. The pattern in the spectrum is dependent on the attached ligand. The gas-phase observations on C60+ –Ne allow a rationalization of the relative intensities of the absorptions of C60+ in a neon matrix.