Abstract: Vacuum-UV (10.49 eV) photoionization mass and photoelectron spectroscopy of the three isomers of C3H2, cyclopropenylidene (l), propadienylidene (2), and propargylene (3), are used to test a valence bond promotion energy model for carbene thermochemistry and radical bond dissociation energies. The predicted deviation of AHf [carbene] from bond additivity estimates by the carbene singlet-triplet gap is shown to be valid to within the ...