Long-range electron binding to quadrupolar molecules.

An excess electron can be bound to a molecule in a very diffuse orbital as a result of the long-range contributions of the molecular electrostatic field. Following a systematic search, we report experimental evidence that quadrupole binding occurs for the trans-succinonitrile molecule (EA=20+/-2 meV), while the gauche-succinonitrile conformer supports a dipole-bound anion state (EA=108+/-10 meV). Theoretical calculations at the DFT/B3LYP level support these interpretations and give electron affinities of 20 and 138 meV, respectively.