"Visible" 5d Orbital States in a Pleochroic Oxychloride

J Am Chem Soc. 2017 Aug 9;139(31):10784-10789. doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b05128. Epub 2017 Jul 27.

Abstract

Transition metal compounds sometimes exhibit attractive colors. Here, we report a new oxychloride, Ca3ReO5Cl2, that shows unusually distinct pleochroism; that is, the material exhibits different colors depending on the viewing direction. This pleochroism is a consequence of the coincidental complex crystal field splitting of the 5d orbitals of the Re6+ ion in a square-pyramidal coordination of low symmetry in the energy range of the visible spectrum. Since the relevant d-d transitions show characteristic polarization dependence according to the optical selection rule, the orbital states are "visible" in Ca3ReO5Cl2.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't