X-ray photoelectron spectra and electron structure of polynuclear cobalt complexes

XPS has been used to study the electronic structure of cobalt trimethylacetate complexes. The compounds were high-spin paramagnetic mono- and polynuclear Co(II) complexes, diamagnetic Co(III) complex and mixed polynuclear di-macroheterocyclic Co(II)/Co(III) one. The Co 2p1/2-Co 2p3/2 spin-orbit splitting (ΔE1) was close to 16, 15 and 15.3 eV, respectively. An intense satellite structure was most noticeable for the Co 2p and Co 3p lines in the case of paramagnetic compounds, but not for the diamagnetic complex. The XPS data are in good agreement with the X-ray structure analysis (XSA).