Abstract: Time-of-flight mass spectrum of C_nB~- has been recorded on a selfbuilt instrument with laser vaporization of tetraphenylboron sodium. By analysis of the com-position of the anions, it is found that number of the boron atoms in any of these ions equals to the number of the charges carried by the anion, and the sum of the numbers of the carbon and boron atoms in these species are always the odd numbers. The experimental results show that boron atom has a strong tendency to attract an electron so that those C_nB~- will have similar electronic structures as C_n, and carbon clusters with odd members are always more stable than their even neighbors.

Key words: Carbon cluster, Linear chain configuration, Laser plasma