Noble Gas-Actinide Compounds: Complexation of the CUO Molecule by Ar, Kr, and Xe Atoms in Noble Gas Matrices
Jun Li,12
Bruce E. Bursten,1*
Binyong Liang,3
Lester Andrews3*
The CUO molecule, formed from the reaction of laser-ablated U atoms
with CO in a noble gas, exhibits very different stretching frequencies
in a solid argon matrix [804.3 and 852.5 wave numbers (cm
1)] than in a solid neon matrix (872.2 and 1047.3 cm1). Related experiments in a matrix consisting of 1%
argon in neon suggest that the argon atoms are interacting directly
with the CUO molecule. Relativistic density functional calculations
predict that CUO can bind directly to one argon atom (U-Ar = 3.16 angstroms; binding energy = 3.2 kilocalories per mole),
accompanied by a change in the ground state from a singlet to a
triplet. Our experimental and theoretical results also suggest that
multiple argon atoms can bind to a single CUO molecule.
1 Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
2 Environmental
Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland, WA 99352, USA.
3 Department of Chemistry,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
bursten.1{at}osu.edu (B.E.B.); lsa{at}unix.mail.virginia.edu (L.A.)
