Inner-shell excitations in weak-bond molecules

It is proposed that Rydberg and valence σ* conjugate orbitals have separate existences and can be seen in the same spectrum if the σ* MO can be disentangled from the Rydberg manifold. Because the energy of the σ* MO is a consequence of the σ–σ* split resulting from bond formation, the spectra of molecules having weak bonds should show low-lying transitions to σ* in addition to the conjugate Rydberg bands. Inelastic electron scattering spectra …