Alkali electron affinities

Table I. Alkali Electron Affinities (in eV) obtained from Relativistic and Nonrelativistic Effective Potential QMC Simulations...

Miller T M, Leopold D G, Murray K K and Lineberger W C 1986 Electron affinities of the alkali halides and the structure of their negative ions J. Chem. Phys. 85 2368-75... 

Much of tills chapter concerns ET reactions in solution. However, gas phase ET processes are well known too. See figure C3.2.1. The Tiarjioon mechanism by which halogens oxidize alkali metals is fundamentally an electron transfer reaction [2]. One might guess, from tliis simple reaction, some of tlie stmctural parameters tliat control ET rates relative electron affinities of reactants, reactant separation distance, bond lengtli changes upon oxidation/reduction, vibrational frequencies, etc. 

Bromine has a lower electron affinity and electrode potential than chlorine but is still a very reactive element. It combines violently with alkali metals and reacts spontaneously with phosphorus, arsenic and antimony. When heated it reacts with many other elements, including gold, but it does not attack platinum, and silver forms a protective film of silver bromide. Because of the strong oxidising properties, bromine, like fluorine and chlorine, tends to form compounds with the electropositive element in a high oxidation state. 

Even the chemically robust perfluoroalkanes can undergo electron-transfer reactions (equation 4) because of their relatively high electron affinities [89]. Strong reduemg agents like alkali metals [90] or sodium naphthahde [91] are normally required for reaction, but perfluoroalkanes with low-energy, tert-C-F a anti-... 

In principle, the equilibrium approach can be used to measure any of the thermochemical properties listed above. However, in practice, it is most commonly used for the determination of gas-phase acidities, proton affinities, and electron affinities. In addition, equilibrium measurements are used for measuring ion affinities, including halide (F, Cl ) and metal ion (alkali and transition metal) affinities. 

After cocondensation of SiO (1226 cm 1) with alkali metal atoms like Na or K, new bands are detected at 1014 cm 1 (Na) or 1025 cm 1 (K). They can only be attributed to an SiO" anion because of the red shift of the SiO stretching vibration (with respect to that of uncoordinated SiO) and because of different isotopic splittings (28/29/30SiO, Si16/180) [21]. The formation of an ionic species M+(SiO) (M = Na, K) is in line with the results of quantum chemical calculations for the SiO anion (SiO d = 1.49 A, SiO" d = 1.55 A, "electron affinity" SiO + e + 1.06 eV —> SiO") [20]. Taking simple Coulomb interactions into consideration this species is very likely to have a strongly bent structure. The same situation occurs in gaseous NaCN (<(NaNC) = 81.2°) [22],... 

The bonding in solids is similar to that in molecules except that the gap in the bonding energy spectrum is the minimum energy band gap. By analogy with molecules, the chemical hardness for covalent solids equals half the band gap. For metals there is no gap, but in the special case of the alkali metals, the electron affinity is very small, so the hardness is half the ionization energy. 

As we have seen, several atomic properties are important when considering the energies associated with crystal formation. Ionization potentials and heats of sublimation for the metals, electron affinities, and dissociation energies for the nonmetals, and heats of formation of alkali halides are shown in Tables 7.1 and 7.2. 

The relative position of the electronic level eo to the Fermi level depends on the electrode potential. We perform estimates for the case where there is no drop in the outer potential between the adsorbate and the metal - usually this situation is not far from the pzc. In this case we obtain for an alkali ion eo — Ep — where is the work function of the metal, and I the ionization energy of the alkali atom. For a halide ion eo — Ep = electron affinity of the atom. 

Table 18.2 Occupation probability of the valence orbital of a few alkali and halide ions adsorbed on mercury ( = 4.5 eV). For alkali atoms eo denotes the ionization energy for halide atoms, the electron affinity.

It is tempting to relate the thermodynamics of electron-transfer between metal atoms or ions and organic substrates directly to the relevant ionization potentials and electron affinities. These quantities certainly play a role in ET-thermo-dynamics but the dominant factor in inner sphere processes in which the product of electron transfer is an ion pair is the electrostatic interaction between the product ions. Model calculations on the reduction of ethylene by alkali metal atoms, for instance [69], showed that the energy difference between the M C2H4 ground state and the electron-transfer state can be... 

The isomerization is more effective when the (nitroanion-radical + alkali counterion) ion pair does not exist. The following needs to be noted It is assumed that intimate ion pairs possess larger electron affinity and are characterized by larger contribution to the free energy of electron transfer than free ions (Grigoriev et al. 2001). 

A number of useful properties of the Group 1 elements (alkali metals) are given in Table 8. They include ionization potentials and electron affinities Pauling, Allred-Rochow and Allen electronegativities ionic, covalent and van der Waals radii v steric parameters and polarizabilities. It should be noted that the ionic radii, ri, are a linear function of the molar volumes, Vm, and the a values. If they are used as parameters, they cannot distinguish between polarizability and ionic size. 

The reaction involves the transfer of an electron from the alkali metal to naphthalene. The radical nature of the anion-radical has been established from electron spin resonance spectroscopy and the carbanion nature by their reaction with carbon dioxide to form the carboxylic acid derivative. The equilibrium in Eq. 5-65 depends on the electron affinity of the hydrocarbon and the donor properties of the solvent. Biphenyl is less useful than naphthalene since its equilibrium is far less toward the anion-radical than for naphthalene. Anthracene is also less useful even though it easily forms the anion-radical. The anthracene anion-radical is too stable to initiate polymerization. Polar solvents are needed to stabilize the anion-radical, primarily via solvation of the cation. Sodium naphthalene is formed quantitatively in tetrahy-drofuran (THF), but dilution with hydrocarbons results in precipitation of sodium and regeneration of naphthalene. For the less electropositive alkaline-earth metals, an even more polar solent than THF [e.g., hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA)] is needed. 

Through reduction or oxidation of the molecule by a dopant molecule. Atoms or molecules with high electron affinity, such as iodine, antimony pentafluoride (SbCls), or 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ), may oxidize a typical organic semiconductor such as poly(p-phenylene) derivatives, leaving them positively charged. Reduction, i.e., addition of an electron, may be obtained by doping with alkali metals. 

Recently, the group of Salama has, however, begun to apply the above technique to the study of vibronic spectra of polyacenes that have the dual advantage that they have rather large electron affinities and that they absorb in the near-lR region where alkali atoms, in particular Na, do not absorb. " ... 

It is not yet possible to measure lattice energy directly, which is why the best experimental values for the alkali halides, as listed in Table 1.16, are derived from a thermochemical cycle. This in itself is not always easy for compounds other than the alkali halides because, as we noted before, not all of the data is necessarily available. Electron affinity values are known from experimental measurements for... 

As mentioned in Section 3.4, clusters of metal atoms of varying sizes can be prepared. The presence of alkali atom clusters in the vapour phase is well documented. Such clusters have a much lower ionization energy than that of an isolated atom and also have a high electron affinity. The probability of electron transfer is therefore considerably greater in a metal cluster. It is indeed known in the case of caesium that as the density of caesium increases (from isolated atoms in a low-density gas to a liquid), larger clusters form and charge-transfer becomes increasingly favoured as the density... 

Being a valuable isotope analytical technique in routine work for high precision isotope ratio measurements, TIMS is applied in many laboratories worldwide for isotope ratio measurements especially for elements with ionization potentials < 7 eV,7 such as alkali and earth alkali elements, rare earth elements (REE), uranium and plutonium. It is advantageous that the interference problem occurs relatively seldom in TIMS, especially if the negative thermal ionization technique for elements and molecules with electron affinities > 2eV (Ir, W, Os, Re, Pt, Cl and Br) is applied. TIMS with multiple ion collectors achieves a precision of up to 0.001 % thus permitting the study... 

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