Electronic Structure of the Complete Series of Gas-Phase Manganese Acetylacetonates by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

[Image: see text] Metal centers in transition metal–ligand complexes occur in a variety of oxidation states causing their redox activity and therefore making them relevant for applications in physics and chemistry. The electronic state of these complexes can be studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy, which is, however, due to the complex spectral signature not always straightforward. Here, we study the electronic structure of gas-phase cationic manganese acetylacetonate complexes Mn(acac)(1–3)(+) using X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the metal center and ligand constituents. The spectra are well reproduced by multiconfigurational wave function theory, time-dependent density functional theory as well as parameterized crystal field and charge transfer multiplet simulations. This enables us to get detailed insights into the electronic structure of ground-state Mn(acac)(1–3)(+) and extract empirical parameters such as crystal field strength and exchange coupling from X-ray excitation at both the metal and ligand sites. By comparison to X-ray absorption spectra of neutral, solvated Mn(acac)(2,3) complexes, we also show that the effect of coordination on the L(3) excitation energy, routinely used to identify oxidation states, can contribute about 40–50% to the observed shift, which for the current study is 1.9 eV per oxidation state.