https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-021-00301-6
Regular Article – Clusters and Nanostructures
Adsorption of helium on a charged propeller molecule: hexaphenylbenzene
1
Institut für Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik, Universität Innsbruck, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
2
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LiPhy, 38000, Grenoble, France
3
Laboratory Astrophysics and Cluster Physics Group of the MPI for Astronomy at the University of Jena, Helmholtzweg 3, 07743, Jena, Germany
4
Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, 03824, Durham, NH, USA
Received:
16
September
2021
Accepted:
4
November
2021
Published online:
29
November
2021
Physisorption on planar or curved graphitic surfaces or aromatic rings has been investigated by various research groups, but in these studies, the substrate was usually strictly rigid. Here, we report a combined experimental and theoretical study of helium adsorption on cationic hexaphenylbenzene (HPB), a propeller-shaped molecule. The orientation of its propeller blades is known to be sensitive to the environment, with substantial differences between the molecule in the gas phase and in the crystalline solid. Mass spectra of HeHPB
, synthesized in helium nanodroplets, indicate enhanced stability for ions containing
, or 46 helium atoms. Path-integral molecular dynamics simulations reveal a significant dependence of the dissociation energy on the details of the HPB geometry. Good agreement between the experimental data and calculated dissociation energies is obtained, provided that the symmetry of HPB
is reduced from
to
, such a lower symmetry being suggested from quantum chemical calculations as arising upon electron removal.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-021-00301-6.
© The Author(s) 2021
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