15min:

MARILYN E. JACOX AND WARREN E. THOMPSON, Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8441.

Although properties of the HOHOH anion have long been sought, only recently have quantum chemical calculations converged on a centrosymmetric structure for it. One vibrational fundamental, the antisymmetric stretching motion of the central H atom along the OHO axis, has even more recently been identified in the gas phase . In experiments involving the codeposition at 4.3 K of a Ne:O₂ mixture with a Ne:H₂ mixture that has been passed through a microwave discharge, this fundamental absorption appears very close to its gas-phase position. Experiments involving partial and full deuterium enrichment confirm the presence of multiple H atoms in the anion and provide the first observation of the corresponding fundamental of the fully deuterium-substituted species.