Electronic spectra of carbon chains and derivatives

Spectroscopic characterisation of carbon chains and ions has been motivated by a general interest in understanding the electronic structure and properties and also due to their prominence in astrochemistry, combustion processes as well as molecular electronics. Various experimental and theoretical approaches have been successfully implemented over the years towards realising this goal. In the current review, we have tabulated the experimentally available data on the excited electronic states of carbon chains and derivatives containing H, N, O, S and metals.