The thermodynamic properties of lanthanum and lanthanide dichlorides

Data on the structure, vibrational frequencies, and thermodynamic functions of LnCl(2) (Lit = La,..., Lu) are analyzed critically. The thermodynamic functions of 15 molecules were calculated in the rigid rotator-harmonic oscillator approximation. The lacking molecular constants of rare-earth metal dichlorides were estimated based on empirical rules of their variations in the series of lanthanide compounds. The electronic component of thermodynamic functions was estimated from the excitation energies of low lying (<10000 cm(-1)) electronic states of doubly and triply charged rare-earth metal ions.