Cluster assisted photoionization processes of benzene, which was seeded in argon, induced by an intense 25 ns Nd-YAG laser has been studied by means of time-of-flight mass spectrometry. At the laser intensity of 10(11) W/cm(2), multicharged ions Cq+ (q = 2-3) with kinetic energy up to 150 eV were observed in the mass spectra. Strong evidences Support that these ions are formed in the Coulomb explosion of multicharged benzene cluster ions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.