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Title: Bond-bending isomerism of Au2I3-: Competition between covalent bonding and aurophilicity

Abstract

We report a joint photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical investigation of the gaseous Au2I3 cluster, which is found to exhibit two types of isomers due to competition between Au–I covalent bonding and Au–Au aurophilic interactions. The covalent bonding favors a bent IAuIAuI structure with an obtuse Au–I–Au angle (100.7°), while aurophilic interactions pull the two Au atoms much closer, leading to an acutely bent structure (72.0°) with an Au–Au distance of 3.08 Å. The two isomers are separated by a small barrier and are nearly degenerate with the obtuse isomer being slightly more stable. At low temperature, only the obtuse isomer is observed; distinct experimental evidence is observed for the co-existence of a combination of isomers with both acute and obtuse bending angles at room temperature. As a result, the two bond-bending isomers of Au2I3 reveal a unique example of one molecule being able to oscillate between different structures as a result of two competing chemical forces.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [3];  [1]
  1. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China)
  3. Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)
  4. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China)
  5. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1239322
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-21694
Journal ID: ISSN 2041-6520; CSHCBM
Grant/Contract Number:  
1263745; 21433005, 21201106, and 21221062; AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Chemical Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-6520
Publisher:
Royal Society of Chemistry
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; ab initio calculation; bond-bending isomer; aurophilicity; photoelectron spectroscopy; chemical bonding

Citation Formats

Li, Wan -Lu, Liu, Hong -Tao, Jian, Tian, Lopez, Gary V., Piazza, Zachary A., Huang, Dao -Ling, Chen, Teng -Teng, Su, Jing, Yang, Ping, Chen, Xin, Wang, Lai -Sheng, and Li, Jun. Bond-bending isomerism of Au2I3-: Competition between covalent bonding and aurophilicity. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1039/C5SC03568F.
Li, Wan -Lu, Liu, Hong -Tao, Jian, Tian, Lopez, Gary V., Piazza, Zachary A., Huang, Dao -Ling, Chen, Teng -Teng, Su, Jing, Yang, Ping, Chen, Xin, Wang, Lai -Sheng, & Li, Jun. Bond-bending isomerism of Au2I3-: Competition between covalent bonding and aurophilicity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5SC03568F
Li, Wan -Lu, Liu, Hong -Tao, Jian, Tian, Lopez, Gary V., Piazza, Zachary A., Huang, Dao -Ling, Chen, Teng -Teng, Su, Jing, Yang, Ping, Chen, Xin, Wang, Lai -Sheng, and Li, Jun. 2015. "Bond-bending isomerism of Au2I3-: Competition between covalent bonding and aurophilicity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5SC03568F. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1239322.
@article{osti_1239322,
title = {Bond-bending isomerism of Au2I3-: Competition between covalent bonding and aurophilicity},
author = {Li, Wan -Lu and Liu, Hong -Tao and Jian, Tian and Lopez, Gary V. and Piazza, Zachary A. and Huang, Dao -Ling and Chen, Teng -Teng and Su, Jing and Yang, Ping and Chen, Xin and Wang, Lai -Sheng and Li, Jun},
abstractNote = {We report a joint photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical investigation of the gaseous Au2I3– cluster, which is found to exhibit two types of isomers due to competition between Au–I covalent bonding and Au–Au aurophilic interactions. The covalent bonding favors a bent IAuIAuI– structure with an obtuse Au–I–Au angle (100.7°), while aurophilic interactions pull the two Au atoms much closer, leading to an acutely bent structure (72.0°) with an Au–Au distance of 3.08 Å. The two isomers are separated by a small barrier and are nearly degenerate with the obtuse isomer being slightly more stable. At low temperature, only the obtuse isomer is observed; distinct experimental evidence is observed for the co-existence of a combination of isomers with both acute and obtuse bending angles at room temperature. As a result, the two bond-bending isomers of Au2I3– reveal a unique example of one molecule being able to oscillate between different structures as a result of two competing chemical forces.},
doi = {10.1039/C5SC03568F},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1239322}, journal = {Chemical Science},
issn = {2041-6520},
number = 1,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Tue Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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