Novel rare-gas molecules in the gas phase.

Abstract:
Experimental study of novel rare-gas molecules is proposed. Since the exploration of the chemically bound noble-gas compounds expands our understanding of chemical bonding and unravels new bonding mechanisms, it has become fast growing field of theoretical and experimental research recently. The focus here is on molecules of the form HRgX (Rg is a rare gas atom and X is an electronegative group). Experimentally, these species have been usually produced by photolysis of the HX molecule in rare gas matrixes. The generation of these molecules in the gas phase by photolysis of the HX molecule embedded in the rare gas clusters in molecular beams is proposed. Various methods including mass spectrometry, UV-photoionization and dissociation will serve the detection of the new molecules and investigation of their stability, energetics, dynamics, etc. Direct, mass spectrometric detection of these molecules in the gas phase is proposed for the first time. The study includes molecules such as HXeI, HXeCl, HXeBr, HKrCl,...