Chemical
Bonding in Aqueous Ferrocyanide: Experimental
and Theoretical X‑ray Spectroscopic Study
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Abstract
Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering
(RIXS) and X-ray absorption
(XA) experiments at the iron L- and nitrogen K-edge are combined with
high-level first-principles restricted active space self-consistent
field (RASSCF) calculations for a systematic investigation of the
nature of the chemical bond in potassium ferrocyanide in aqueous solution.
The atom- and site-specific RIXS excitations allow for direct observation
of ligand-to-metal (Fe L-edge) and metal-to-ligand (N K-edge) charge-transfer
bands and thereby evidence for strong σ-donation and π-backdonation.
The effects are identified by comparing experimental and simulated
spectra related to both the unoccupied and occupied molecular orbitals
in solution