Structure and vibrations of lanthanide trihalides:: An assessment of experimental and theoretical data

In the present paper an assessment of experimental and theoretical data on the structure and molecular vibrations of all the LnX(3) lanthanide trihalides (X=FCl,Br,I) is presented. Our review includes 114 references to recent advanced studies. These data facilitated the confirmation of previously suggested trends in the molecular properties of the title compounds and a reliable estimation of the data of less-studied LnX3 molecules. On the basis of the collected data, a comparative analysis of the experimental and computational results has been performed. This served to assess the capabilities of recent theoretical methods for the above molecular properties. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.