Structure and energy studies of β-diketonates. XIII. Molecular structure of gadolinium tris-hexafluoroacetylacetonate Gd(C5O2HF6)3

In a mass spectrometric study, it was found that the saturated vapor over gadolinium tris-hexafluoroacetylacetonate Gd(C₅O₂HF₆)₃ contains molecular forms with a mass exceeding the mass of the dimer. The vapor overheated to 250–300°C contains only the monomer form. Simultaneous electron diffraction and mass spectrometric experiment aimed at investigating the structure of the Gd(hfa)₃ monomer molecule was carried out at 284(5)°C. The Gd(hfa)₃ molecule was found to have the symmetry of the equilibrium D ₃ configuration. The basic structural parameters are r _h1(Gd-O) = 2.291(10) Å, r _h1(O-C) = 1.257(10) Å, r _h1(C-C_r) = 1.404(6) Å, r _h1(C_F-F)_av = 1.341(3) Å, ∠OGdO = 72.8(0.4)°. The GdO₆ coordination polyhedron has the structure of a distorted antiprism. The rotation angle of the O-O-O trigonal faces relative to their position in a regular prism is 18.7(0.9)°. Quantum chemical calculations (HF/SBK, 6-31G*) generally reproduce the experimental structure, but the Gd-O internuclear distance is exaggerated by 0.04 Å.