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The Nature of Bonding between Argon and Mixed Gold–Silver Trimers
Author(s) -
Shayeghi Armin,
Johnston Roy L.,
Rayner David M.,
Schäfer Rolf,
Fielicke André
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201503845
Subject(s) - noble gas , chemical bond , argon , noble metal , chemistry , chemical physics , binding energy , open shell , spectral line , crystallography , metal , computational chemistry , atomic physics , physics , organic chemistry , astronomy
The controversial nature of chemical bonding between noble gases and noble metals is addressed. Experimental evidence of exceptionally strong AuAr bonds in Ar complexes of mixed AuAg trimers is presented. IR spectra reveal an enormous influence of the attached Ar atoms on vibrational modes, particularly in Au‐rich trimers, where Ar atoms are heavily involved owing to a relativistically enhanced covalency. In Ag‐rich trimers, vibrational transitions of the metal framework predominate, indicating a pure electrostatic character of the AgAr bonds. The experimental findings are analyzed by means of DFT calculations, which show how the relativistic differences between Au and Ag are manifested in stronger AuAr binding energies. Because of the ability to vary composition and charge distribution, the trimers serve as ideal model systems to study the chemical nature of the bonding of noble gases to closed‐shell systems containing gold.