John L. Huston

Molecular Structure of Xenon Tetroxide, XeO4

The molecular structure of XeO4 has been investigated in the gas phase by electron diffraction. The data are completely compatible with the tetrahedral structure proposed from analysis of the infrared spectrum. Refinement of the structure by least squares based upon intensity functions, treating each distance and amplitude as independent parameters, yielded the results rXe–O = 1.736 A (0.0023), rO...O = 2.832 A (0.0086), lXe–O = 0.0468 A (0.0025), and lO...O = 0.0866 A (0.0076). Parenthesized values are 2σ and include estimates of systematic error.

Reaction of fluorine gas with coal and the aromaticity of coal

Abstract Molecular fluorine has been used for the study of coal and a small number of model compounds. It is shown that direct estimates can be made of the carbon aromaticity and of the sensitive carbon in cyclic form. The value for a high-volatile Illinois bituminous coal agrees well with that commonly accepted on the aromatic/aliphatic structural hypothesis and suggests that the polyamantane model is unsatisfactory. The reagent also results in removal of nitrogen and sulphur from coal.

Vibrational Spectra and Structure of XeO2F2

The Raman spectra of liquid and solid XeO2F2 and the infrared spectrum of XeO2F2 in an argon matrix at liquid‐helium temperature are reported. They are interpreted in terms of C2υ molecular symmetry which can be associated with a molecule of pseudobipyramidal structure, where the two F atoms are axial to the Xe and the two O atoms with a lone electron pair are equatorial. The vibrational spectra support the existence of primarily monomeric XeO2F2 molecules in the liquid state and quite probably in the solid. The nine fundamentals assigned are: 848 (ν1), 490 (ν2), 333 (ν3), 198 (ν4), 224 (ν5), 905 (ν6), 324 (ν7), 585 (ν8), and 317 (ν9).

Aromaticities of various coals measured by reaction with fluorine and TGA-DTA studies of the reaction products

Abstract The previously described method for estimating aromaticity by fluorination has been applied to coals of various ranks and used to compare the aromaticity of a solvent-refined coal with that of the feed coal from which it was derived. Coals of various degrees of fluorination were also studied by thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis.

The Study of Sodium Tetrakis(1-imidazolyl)borate in the Precipitation of Deuterium Cations

Abstract The sodium salt of tetrakis(1-imidazolyl)borate (NaTIB) was synthesized by the reaction scheme1 as follows: The precipitation pattern of this water soluble reagent indicated that magnesium, calcium, mercury(II), silver(I), thallium(I), uranyl, lead(II), iron(II), cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II) and hydrogen cations react to form water insoluble precipitates. Most notable among these was the formation of hydrogen tetrakis-(1-imidazolyl)boric acid (HTIB). One mole of hydrogen ion reacts quantitatively with one mole of the sodium salt of tetrakis(1-imidazolyl)borate to yield a slightly soluble precipitate. This is the first tetraarylboric acid that we have been able to isolate from the several tetraarylborate salts that we have made. Trofimenko2 in 1967 isolated hydrogen tetrakis(1-pyrazolyl)boric acid, but it does not appear sufficiently stable to be of analytical interest.

ESR examination of XeO4

An ESR examination of XeO4 in the vapor and solid states suggests that the ground state of this molecule is not a spin triplet as has been proposed for this molecule based on a semiempirical molecular orbital scheme. Solid XeO4 does exhibit paramagnetic states when subjected to ultraviolet radiation of wavelength less than 420±5 nm. The g values of these photoinduced states are consistent with the production of O2− ions and trapped electrons in the solid.