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 LnX3 lanthanide trihalides (X=F,Cl,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.