A new method to derive electronegativity from resonant inelastic x-ray scattering.
Electronegativity is a well-known property of atoms and substituent groups. Because there is no direct way to measure it, establishing a useful scale for electronegativity often entails correlating it to another chemical parameter; a wide variety of methods have been proposed over the past 80 years to do just that. This work reports a new approach that connects electronegativity to a spectroscopic parameter derived from resonant inelastic x-ray scattering. The new method is demonstrated using a series of chlorine-containing compounds, focusing on the Cl 2p(-1)LUMO(1) electronic states reached after Cl 1s → LUMO core excitation and subsequent KL radiative decay. Based on an electron-density analysis of the LUMOs, the relative weights of the Cl 2p(z) atomic orbital contributing to the Cl 2p(3/2) molecular spin-orbit components are shown to yield a linear electronegativity scale consistent with previous approaches.
UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR7614, Laboratoire de Chimie Physique-Matière et Rayonnement, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
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Carniato
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Journel
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Guillemin
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Piancastelli
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Stolte
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Lindle
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Simon