Knowledge Bank

Sulfur vapor diluted with argon was passed through a microwave discharge and codeposited with argon-fluorine samples onto a CsI window at 12K. Variation of fluorine and sulfur concentrations over a wide range and sulfur-34 isotopic substitution provided a basis for identification of the $SF,SF2$ and $SF3$ transient species. The diatomic SF radical showed matrix site absorptions at 818.8 and $822.0cm-1$ for $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">32</mrow>}S19F$ and 809.9 and $813.1cm-1$ for $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">34</mrow>}S19F$. A similar site splitting was also observed for both symmetric and antisymmetric stretching vibrations of $SF2$ at 832.5, 829.5 and 805.0, 804.6, $802.1cm-1$, respectively. The $SF3$ radical revealed symmetric equatorial and anti-symmetric axial stretching vibrations at 843.8 and $681.8cm-1$, respectively. Sample annealing increased weak absorptions due to the higher fluoride species in the series including $SF4$ and $SF6$.