Molecular aluminium trihydride, AlH 3 : generation in a solid noble gas matrix and characterisation by its infrared spectrum and Ab initio calculations

Broad-band photolysis of a solid noble gas matrix containing Al atoms and H2 gives rise to the planar, monomericAlH3 molecule, isotopically natural and deuteriated forms of which have been characterised by their IR spectra; confirmation is afforded by the results of MP2 ab initio and normal coordinate analysis calculations.