Reactions of Laser-Ablated Vanadium Atoms with Dioxygen. Infrared Spectra of VO, VO2, OOVO2, and V2O2 in Solid Argon

Laser-ablated V atoms react with O2 to give primarily the bent VO2 dioxide molecule and a smaller yield of the monoxide VO. The OVO valence angle is estimated as 118 ± 3° from oxygen isotopic ν3 frequencies and 121° from DFT calculations. New absorptions appear on annealing to 35 K that can be assigned to two V2O2 isomers and the superoxo adduct to VO2, namely the OOVO2 molecule. Both VO2 and OOVO2 reveal weak ν1 + ν3 combination bands, which support the assignment of ν1 and ν3 fundamental vibrations.