calculations revealed that the ptF structure is a real minimum and indeed, the global minimum. Bonding analysis indicates that the central fluorine atom is stabilized by multicentre bonding with four surrounding Li atoms. Natural charge analysis reveals that the fluorine atom is negatively charged, which is strongly attracted by the positively charged surrounding lithium centres, thereby imparting significant electrostatic attraction. Aromaticity has no role to play here. The cluster is dynamically stable and is expected to be detected in the gas phase.
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Sarmah et al. (2024) studied this question.
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