Chemical Physics Letters, Vol.332, No.3-4, 219-224, 2000
Strong metal-cage hybridization in endohedral La@C-82, Y@C-82 and Sc@C-82
Stimulated by the recent resonant photoelectron spectroscopy studies on La@C-82 who found a nonzero charge density localized on the La atom, local density functional calculations have been performed on La@C-82, Y@C-82 and Sc@C-82. In contrast to previous charge transfer model for La@C-82, Y@C-82 and d-electron localization model for Sc@C-82, strong hybridization between the La (Y, Sc) d valence orbitals and the cage orbitals have been found in our calculations. Through hybridization the unpaired electron is primarily delocalized on the cage but the occupied valence orbitals contain significant d character.