Lucio F. answered • 04/13/19
Tutor
5.0
(71)
Physical Chemistry MS+PhD (UC San Diego) + Post-doc (UC Berkeley)
Jahn-Teller distortion is typically associated with what would normally be a symmetrical molecule, but during bonding chooses an asymmetry to achieve lower energy. An example is the unequal bond distances in the metal benzene carbonyl complex Benzene Chromium Tri-carbonyl. (C6H6)Cr(CO)3 has a "piano stool" like structure. The benzene ring for example has alternating C-C bond lengths of 1.422 and 1.406 angstroms vs. regular old benzene with a single bond length. That is a 0.016 angstrom difference! See J.A.C.S. 1995, 117, 5512-5514.
