Knowledge Bank

The anhydrous molten salts of alkali metal chlorates, like the corresponding nitrate melts, have been found to volatilize in vacuum primarily as the monomeric species, $(MClO3)$, with minimal decomposition except in the case of $LiClO3$. Matrix isolation of the vapors has permitted detailed studies of the monomer modes including the metal-chlorate vibration. The variation in cation polarizing power through the alkali metal series apparently has a much less pronounced effect on the splitting of the degeneracy of the chlorate asymmetric stretching mode than in the corresponding nitrate series. The reason for this behavior is clarified by a normal coordinate analysis.