In light of the recent discovery of ArH

The argonium cation, ArH(+), has been previously detected in nature for the first time. This cation is believed to form through the gas-phase reaction of Ar(+) and H2. In this work, quantum chemical techniques show that the reaction of Ar and H3(+) may be a viable alternative or contributor to the creation of ArH(+) corroborating previous analysis. In order to further evaluate this claim, highly accurate quartic force field computations are used to produce spectroscopic data and anharmonic vibrational frequencies for ArH3(+) in its 18 isotopologues. NeH3(+) is also analyzed but has a low Ne-H3(+) dissociation barrier. Therefore, it less likely to be observed. Consequently, NeH(+) is also unlikely to be formed from NeH3(+) as it was also not from NeH2(+).

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The vibrational spectra of H3+Ar2,3 and D3+Ar2,3 are investigated in the 2000 cm−1 to 4500 cm−1 region through a combination of mass-selected infrared laser photodissociation spectroscopy and computational work including the effects of anharmonicity. In the reduced symmetry of the di-argon complex, vibrational activity is detected in the regions of both the symmetric and antisymmetric hydrogen stretching modes of H3+. The tri-argon complex restores the D3h symmetry of the H3+ ion, with a concomitant reduction in the vibrational activity that is limited to the region of the antisymmetric stretch. Throughout these spectra, additional bands are detected beyond those predicted with harmonic vibrational theory. Anharmonic theory is able to reproduce some of the additional bands, with varying degrees of success.

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