Photo-electron and Chemical Differences Between Scandium, Iron, Cobalt and Gallium

Abstract

It has been believed that a sufficient explanation of the higher affinity of cobalt(III) to ligands having low electronegativity is the “ligand field” stabilization compared with an interpolation between trivalent scandium, iron and gallium. With photoelectron spectrometers, it is possible to measure much higher ionization energies of the 3d shell in zinc(II) and gallium(III) than in systems with partly filled shells. The importance of in- terelectronic repulsion for the quantum-mechanical treatment and the extent of anti-bonding of the upper sub-shell is discussed as well as the change of inner shell ionization energies going from one element to the next. The behaviour of the lanthanides is more regular.