Proton Affinity of Germane (GeH4): The Chemical Bond of its Protonated Species (GeH5 +)

Abstract

The proton affinity of GeH4 and the chem. bond of its protonated species were theor. studied by means of the ab initio MO method with an extended basis set (contracted [11s9p3dlf(Ge)/3slp(H)]). The proton affinity of GeH4 was computed to be 7.0-7.2 eV; the result confirms that the proton affinities of the hydrides of group IVa elements increase with the increase of their principal quantum no. Protonated germane (GeH5+) can be looked upon as a weak complex of GeH3+ and H2 which keep their isolated electronic configurations; this makes a difference from protonated methane (CH5+). [on SciFinder(R)]