Hmm, it does seem strange that they would bond. I wonder if this flat lattice is weakly held together by some anti-ferromagnetic effect. Spin up on Gold, spin down on Xenon, the whole structure being lower-energy than would be possible for separated atoms.
Or maybe D-shell bonding is just more complex than the S and P bonding we’re all used to.
Xenon, being a bit far down on the periodic chart, is a noble gas that has been known to form molecular bonds. It bonds with fluorine, although the solid crystals will explode with a touch of a feather.
>Hmm, it does seem strange that they would bond. I wonder if this flat lattice is weakly held together by some anti-ferromagnetic effect. Spin up on Gold, spin down on Xenon, the whole structure being lower-energy than would be possible for separated atoms.
Maybe... though that would raise the question of what its electro-magnetic properties are.
Gold is a wonderful electrical conductor, but Xenon isn’t [IIRC, that changes on high-energy and is what is responsible for “neon” lights].
Gold and Xenon are both Diamagnetic, meaning they “don’t like” magnetic fields and want to “get away” from them.
>Or maybe D-shell bonding is just more complex than the S and P bonding we’re all used to.
That could be.
On that note, I was reading about how trapping molecules in carbon fullerenes could be used to keep/store/study [some] atoms/molecules; which raises the question of using C60 or somesuch to do so. (Of course AuXe4 might be too big, physically; or it may not be enough to hold AuXe4 together under normal pressure and temperature... which would make using it a a storage medium somewhat moot.)