Isoelectronic Theory for Cationic Radii

Ionic radii play a central role in all branches of chemistry, in geochemistry, solid-state physics, and biophysics. While authoritative compilations of experimental radii are available, their theoretical basis is unclear, and no quantitative derivation exists. Here we show how a quantitative calculation of ionic radii for cations with spherically symmetric charge distribution is obtained by charge-weighted averaging of outer and inner radii. The outer radius is the atomic (covalent) radius, and the inner is that of the underlying closed-shell orbital. The first is available from recent experimental compilations, whereas the second is calculated from a "modified Slater theory", in which the screening (S) and effective principal quantum number (n*) were previously obtained by fitting experimental ionization energies in isoelectronic series. This reproduces the experimental Shannon-Prewitt "effective ionic radii" (for coordination number 6) with mean absolute deviation of 0.025 Å, approximately the accuracy of the experimental data itself. The remarkable agreement suggests that the calculation of other cationic attributes might be based on similar principles.