GROUND ELECTRONIC STATUS OF THE VN1, VPd, VPt, NbN1, AND NbPd MOLECULES

$^{1}$ R. J. Van Zee and W. Weltner, Jr., High Teap. Science 17, 181 (1984), Ches. Phys. Lett. 150, 329 (1988).Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of FloridaThese isovalent transition-metal diatomics were established to have $^{4}\Sigma$ ground states from ESR spectra measured in neon and argon matrices at 4 K. Hyperfine splittings due to interaction with the $^{51}v, {^{195}}Pt$, and $^{93}Nb$ nuclei were observed. Zero-field splitting constants were not measured but deduced to be greater than $1 cm^{-1}$. The bonding in these $15 valence (a + d)$ electron molecules will be compared to that in the 13 valence-electron ($^{2}\Sigma$) series ScNi, ScPd, YNi, $YPd.^{1}