Ionic radius,rion, is theradius of a monatomicion in anionic crystal structure. Although neither atoms nor ions have sharp boundaries, they are treated as if they were hard spheres with radii such that the sum of ionic radii of thecation and anion gives the distance between the ions in acrystal lattice. Ionic radii are typically given in units of eitherpicometers (pm) orangstroms (Å), with 1 Å = 100 pm. Typical values range from 31 pm (0.3 Å) to over 200 pm (2 Å).
The concept can be extended to solvated ions in liquid solutions taking into consideration thesolvation shell.
Unit cell parameters (inpm, equal to two M–X bond lengths) for sodium and silver halides. All compounds crystallize in theNaCl structure.
Relative radii of atoms and ions. The neutral atoms are colored gray, cationsred, and anionsblue.
Ions may be larger or smaller than the neutral atom, depending on the ion'selectric charge. When an atom loses an electron to form a cation, the other electrons are more attracted to the nucleus, and the radius of the ion gets smaller. Similarly, when an electron is added to an atom, forming an anion, the added electron increases the size of the electron cloud by interelectronic repulsion.
The ionic radius is not a fixed property of a given ion, but varies withcoordination number,spin state and other parameters. Nevertheless, ionic radius values are sufficientlytransferable to allowperiodic trends to be recognized. As with other types ofatomic radius, ionic radii increase on descending agroup. Ionic size (for the same ion) also increases with increasing coordination number, and an ion in ahigh-spin state will be larger than the same ion in alow-spin state. In general, ionic radius decreases with increasing positive charge and increases with increasing negative charge.
An "anomalous" ionic radius in a crystal is often a sign of significantcovalent character in the bonding. No bond iscompletely ionic, and some supposedly "ionic" compounds, especially of thetransition metals, are particularly covalent in character. This is illustrated by theunit cell parameters forsodium andsilver halides in the table. On the basis of the fluorides, one would say that Ag+ is larger than Na+, but on the basis of thechlorides andbromides the opposite appears to be true.[1] This is because the greater covalent character of the bonds in AgCl and AgBr reduces the bond length and hence the apparent ionic radius of Ag+, an effect which is not present in the halides of the moreelectropositive sodium, nor insilver fluoride in which the fluoride ion is relativelyunpolarizable.
The distance between two ions in an ionic crystal can be determined byX-ray crystallography, which gives the lengths of the sides of theunit cell of a crystal. For example, the length of each edge of the unit cell ofsodium chloride is found to be 564.02 pm. Each edge of the unit cell of sodium chloride may be considered to have the atoms arranged as Na+∙∙∙Cl−∙∙∙Na+, so the edge is twice the Na-Cl separation. Therefore, the distance between the Na+ and Cl− ions is half of 564.02 pm, which is 282.01 pm. However, although X-ray crystallography gives the distance between ions, it doesn't indicate where the boundary is between those ions, so it doesn't directly give ionic radii.
Front view of the unit cell of an LiI crystal, using Shannon's crystal data (Li+ = 90 pm; I− = 206 pm). The iodide ions nearly touch (but don't quite), indicating that Landé's assumption is fairly good.
Landé[2] estimated ionic radii by considering crystals in which the anion and cation have a large difference in size, such as LiI. The lithium ions are so much smaller than the iodide ions that the lithium fits into holes within the crystal lattice, allowing the iodide ions to touch. That is, the distance between two neighboring iodides in the crystal is assumed to be twice the radius of the iodide ion, which was deduced to be 214 pm. This value can be used to determine other radii. For example, the inter-ionic distance in RbI is 356 pm, giving 142 pm for the ionic radius of Rb+. In this way values for the radii of 8 ions were determined.
Wasastjerna estimated ionic radii by considering the relative volumes of ions as determined from electrical polarizability as determined by measurements ofrefractive index.[3] These results were extended byVictor Goldschmidt.[4] Both Wasastjerna and Goldschmidt used a value of 132 pm for the O2− ion.
Pauling usedeffective nuclear charge to proportion the distance between ions into anionic and a cationic radii.[5] His data gives the O2− ion a radius of 140 pm.
A major review of crystallographic data led to the publication of revised ionic radii by Shannon.[6] Shannon gives different radii for different coordination numbers, and for high and low spin states of the ions. To be consistent with Pauling's radii, Shannon has used a value ofrion(O2−) = 140 pm; data using that value are referred to as "effective" ionic radii. However, Shannon also includes data based onrion(O2−) = 126 pm; data using that value are referred to as "crystal" ionic radii. Shannon states that "it is felt that crystal radii correspond more closely to the physical size of ions in a solid."[6] The two sets of data are listed in the two tables below.
Crystal ionic radii inpm of elements as a function of ionic charge and spin (ls = low spin,hs = high spin). Ions are 6-coordinate unless indicated differently in parentheses (e.g. "146 (4)" for 4-coordinate N3−).[6]
Effective ionic radii inpm of elements as a function of ionic charge and spin (ls = low spin,hs = high spin). Ions are 6-coordinate unless indicated differently in parentheses (e.g. "146 (4)" for 4-coordinate N3−).[6]
For many compounds, the model of ions as hard spheres does not reproduce the distance between ions,, to the accuracy with which it can be measured in crystals. One approach to improving the calculated accuracy is to model ions as "soft spheres" that overlap in the crystal. Because the ions overlap, their separation in the crystal will be less than the sum of their soft-sphere radii.[12]
The relation between soft-sphere ionic radii, and, and, is given by
,
where is an exponent that varies with the type of crystal structure. In the hard-sphere model, would be 1, giving.
Comparison between observed and calculated ion separations (in pm)
MX
Observed
Soft-sphere model
LiCl
257.0
257.2
LiBr
275.1
274.4
NaCl
282.0
281.9
NaBr
298.7
298.2
In the soft-sphere model, has a value between 1 and 2. For example, for crystals of group 1 halides with thesodium chloride structure, a value of 1.6667 gives good agreement with experiment. Some soft-sphere ionic radii are in the table. These radii are larger than the crystal radii given above (Li+, 90 pm; Cl−, 167 pm). Inter-ionic separations calculated with these radii give remarkably good agreement with experimental values. Some data are given in the table. Curiously, no theoretical justification for the equation containing has been given.
The concept of ionic radii is based on the assumption of a spherical ion shape. However, from agroup-theoretical point of view the assumption is only justified for ions that reside on high-symmetrycrystal lattice sites like Na and Cl inhalite or Zn and S insphalerite. A clear distinction can be made, when thepoint symmetry group of the respective lattice site is considered,[13] which are thecubic groupsOh andTd in NaCl and ZnS. For ions on lower-symmetry sites significant deviations of theirelectron density from a spherical shape may occur. This holds in particular for ions on lattice sites of polar symmetry, which are thecrystallographic point groupsC1,C1h,Cn orCnv,n = 2, 3, 4 or 6.[14] A thorough analysis of the bonding geometry was recently carried out for pyrite-type compounds, where monovalentchalcogen ions reside onC3 lattice sites. It was found that chalcogen ions have to be modeled byellipsoidal charge distributions with different radii along the symmetry axis and perpendicular to it.[15]
^Wasastjerna, J. A. (1923). "On the radii of ions".Comm. Phys.-Math., Soc. Sci. Fenn.1 (38):1–25.
^Goldschmidt, V. M. (1926).Geochemische Verteilungsgesetze der Elemente. Skrifter Norske Videnskaps—Akad. Oslo, (I) Mat. Natur. This is an 8 volume set of books by Goldschmidt.
^Pauling, L. (1960).The Nature of the Chemical Bond (3rd Edn.).Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
^Shannon, R. D. (1976), "Revised Effective Ionic Radii and Systematic Studies of Interatomic Distances in Halides and Chalcogenides",Acta Crystallogr. A,32 (5):751–67,Bibcode:1976AcCrA..32..751S,doi:10.1107/S0567739476001551.