Knowledge Bank

ESR spectra assigned to $AG3$ molecules have been produced by codepositing atomic silver with excess nitrogen at temperatures close to 4.2 K. The spectra are characterized by an axially symmetric spin Hamiltonian having $g//=1.9933(3)$ and $g\perp =1.9558(3)$ and, for $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">107</mrow>}Ag3,A//=310.8(6)$ G with $A\perp (1)=310.1(6)$ G and $A//(2)=76.0(2)G$ with $A\perp (2)=72.6(2)G$ for the apical(1) and basal(2) nuclei, respectively. The axial symmetry of the spectra is believed to imply that the trimer is rotating about one axis. There is no evidence for a pseudorotating trimer spectrum. The isotropic spin populations are $\rho 5s(1)=0.51$ and $\rho 5s(2)=0.12$ implying an acute angled geometry with ground state symmetry $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">2</mrow>}A1$. This is in sharp contrast to the obtuse angled isomer ($\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">2</mrow>}B2$ ground state) found for $Ag3$ in a $C6D6$ matrix. For $Ag3(2A1)$ there is little p-character on the apical atom but a 10-15% p-hybridization on each of the two basal nuclei.