New main-group dicarbides prepared

Using a supersonic discharge jet source, Dennis J. Clouthier and colleagues at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, prepared two new main-group dicarbide free radicals (CCP and CCAs). The researchers characterized the new species by way of laser-induced fluorescence and wavelength-resolved emission spectroscopy (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 9600). Of 44 possible main-group dicarbides, the researchers' findings bring the total of identified compounds to 10. CCP had been predicted to be an interstellar molecule, and the researchers' ab initio calculations suggest that it may be possible to observe this radical by radioastronomy. To that end, Clouthier's group is currently working to obtain the microwave spectrum of CCP. Solid-state phosphorus and arsenic carbides are of interest to researchers who fabricate materials because the compounds have potential to form very durable thin films and crystals with desirable semiconductor properties.