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Updated: Apr 5, 2026
Synchrotron X-ray Microdiffraction and Fluorescence Imaging of Mineral and Rock Samples
Published on: June 19, 2018
Discovery of a Missing Link: Detection and Structure of the Elusive Disilicon Carbide Cluster
Michael C McCarthy, Joshua H Baraban1, P Bryan Changala2
1‡Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.
Abstract:
The rotational spectrum of the elusive but fundamentally important silicon carbide SiCSi has been detected using sensitive microwave techniques aided by high-level ab initio methods. Its equilibrium structure has been determined to very high precision using isotopic substitution and vibrational corrections calculated quantum-chemically: it is an isosceles triangle with a Si-C bond length of 1.693(1) Å, and an apex angle of 114.87(5)°. Now that all four Si(m)C(n) clusters with m + n = 3 have been observed experimentally, their structure and chemical bonding can be rigorously compared. Because Si2C is so closely linked to other Si-bearing molecules that have been detected in the evolved carbon star IRC+10216, it is an extremely promising candidate for detection with radio telescopes.
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