VALENCE-ELECTRON DISTRIBUTION OF CESIUM CROWN-ETHER ELECTRIDES

Dye has argued that in the electride Cs(18-crown-6)(2) the valence ele ctrons are localized in interstitial regions, or traps, which are far from the cesium nuclei (forming a lattice of F centers). Golden and Tu ttle (GT) have argued that this picture is incorrect, the electron dis tribution being located instead in the immediate vicinity of the Cs nu cleus. Here we refute GT's arguments. We also give arguments based on ab initio calculations for an electride-type molecule, which supports a picture like Dye's versus one where the electron probability is main ly near the cesiums.