New Perspectives in the Noble Gas Chemistry Opened by Electrophilic Anions

Noble Gas Anions: An Overview of Strategies and Bonding Motifs

This review article aims to provide an overview of the strategies employed to prepare noble gas anions under different environments and experimental conditions, and of the bonding motifs typically occurring in these species. Observed systems include anions fixed into synthesized salts, detected in the gas phase or in high-pressure devices. The major role of the theoretical calculations is also highlighted, not only in support of the experiments, but also as effective in predicting still unreported species. The chemistry of noble gas anions overall appears as a varied and rich paint, offering fascinating opportunities for both experimentalists and theoreticians.

A new krypton complex – Experimental and computational investigation of the krypton sulphur pentafluoride cation, [KrSF5]+, in the gas phase

The gas-phase reactions of noble gas (Ng) cations, namely Kr+ and Xe+, with SF6 were investigated experimentally by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry and computationally using MP2 and...

Stable Noble Gas Compounds Based on Superelectrophilic Anions [B12 (BO)11 ]- and [B12 (OBO)11 ]. Chemphyschem 2021;22:2240-2246. [PMID: 34402158 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202100391]

Superelectrophilic monoanions [B₁₂ (BO)₁₁ ]^- and [B₁₂ (OBO)₁₁ ]^- , generated from stable dianions [B₁₂ (BO)₁₂ ]^2- and [B₁₂ (OBO)₁₂ ]^2- , show great potential for binding with noble gases (Ngs). The binding energies, quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM), natural population analysis (NPA), energy decomposition analysis (EDA), and electron localization function (ELF) were carried out to understand the B-Ng bond in [B₁₂ (BO)₁₁ Ng]^- and [B₁₂ (OBO)₁₁ Ng]^- . The calculated results reveal that heavier noble gases (Ar, Kr, and Xe) bind covalently with both [B₁₂ (BO)₁₁ ]^- and [B₁₂ (OBO)₁₁ ]^- with large binding energies, making them potentially feasible to be synthesized. Only [B₁₂ (OBO)₁₁ ]^- could form a covalent bond with helium or neon but the small binding energy of [B₁₂ (OBO)₁₁ He]^- may pose a challenge for its experimental detection.

Understanding Periodic and Non-periodic Chemistry in Periodic Tables

The chemical elements are the "conserved principles" or "kernels" of chemistry that are retained when substances are altered. Comprehensive overviews of the chemistry of the elements and their compounds are needed in chemical science. To this end, a graphical display of the chemical properties of the elements, in the form of a Periodic Table, is the helpful tool. Such tables have been designed with the aim of either classifying real chemical substances or emphasizing formal and aesthetic concepts. Simplified, artistic, or economic tables are relevant to educational and cultural fields, while practicing chemists profit more from "chemical tables of chemical elements." Such tables should incorporate four aspects: (i) typical valence electron configurations of bonded atoms in chemical compounds (instead of the common but chemically atypical ground states of free atoms in physical vacuum); (ii) at least three basic chemical properties (valence number, size, and energy of the valence shells), their joint variation across the elements showing principal and secondary periodicity; (iii) elements in which the (sp)8, (d)10, and (f)14 valence shells become closed and inert under ambient chemical conditions, thereby determining the "fix-points" of chemical periodicity; (iv) peculiar elements at the top and at the bottom of the Periodic Table. While it is essential that Periodic Tables display important trends in element chemistry we need to keep our eyes open for unexpected chemical behavior in ambient, near ambient, or unusual conditions. The combination of experimental data and theoretical insight supports a more nuanced understanding of complex periodic trends and non-periodic phenomena.