Structural studies of tetrachloride liquids

Abstract

Neutron diffraction measurements of liquid VCl₄ and VOCl₃ have been made at a temperature of 21°C using incident neutron wavelengths of 0·5 and 0·7 Å. The data for the high momentum-transfer region (Q⪆6 Å^-1) have been used to fit molecular form factors and give values for the geometrical parameters which are in good agreement with other measurements. Comparison of the results at the two wavelengths shows the expected behaviour for the application of inelasticity corrections. The intramolecular contribution to the diffraction pattern for VCl₄ has been transformed to give the chlorine-chlorine distribution in real space and exhibits strong correlation of molecular orientation. The orientational correlation is less pronounced in VOCl₃ but oscillations in the pair correlation function may be observed for distances up to 15 Å in both cases.