Abstract
THE existence of stable XeF4 and XeF2 molecules has recently been demonstrated1. A description of the binding and molecular geometry using the conventional electron pair model has been proposed2. Twelve of the XeF4 electrons are assumed to be distributed in four electron pair bonds and two sets of lone pairs. This model is based on analogies with the chemistry and geometry of a large number of inorganic compounds. Simple chemical analogy must likewise predict that molecules such as Xe(Cs)4 or Xe(Rb)4 will not exist. Be2 offers a partial analogy to Xe2 and implies that the latter molecule will not be bound.
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Chernick, C. L., et al., Science, 138, 136 (1962). Claassen, H. H., Selig, H., and Malm, J. G., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 84, 3593 (1962).
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The atomic distortion referred to here is that modification of a doubly occupied Hartree–Fock wave function required to represent instantaneous electron correlation effects.
Harris, F. E. (private communication). The method has been described by Harris, F. E. (J. Chem. Phys., 32, 3; 1960). The only mathematically complete previous calculation for HeH (Mason, Ross and Schatz J. Chem. Phys., 25, 626; 1956) does not include instantaneous electron correlation effects.
Lohr, L. L., and Lipscomb, W. N., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. (in the press).
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ALLEN, L. Binding of Xenon to Halogens, to Alkali Metals, and to Itself. Nature 197, 897 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/197897a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/197897a0
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