Mössbauer-Effect Studies of Weak Nuclear Quadrupole Interactions in 119Sn

Nuclear quadrupole interaction in some tin compounds has been investigated by the use of the Mössbauer effect. Stannic oxide shows a partially resolvable quadrupole splitting of 0.49±0.06 mm/sec at 1 atm pressure. The origin of the nuclear quadrupole interaction is attributed to the characteristic rutile crystal structure in SnO₂. The absence of resolvable quadrupole splitting in stannic bromide and diphenyltin indicates that interpretations concerning the electric field gradient tensor based on the Mössbauer effect in ¹¹⁹Sn alone are not always sufficient to warrant definitive conclusions about molecular structures. It has been shown that this restriction is largely due to the relatively broad total natural linewidth for ¹¹⁹Sn, $\mathrm{I=}\frac{3}{2}+$ . Quadrupole‐splitting and isomer‐shift data for some phthalocyaninotin complexes indicate that simple correlations between chemical parameters, e.g., electronegativities, and Mössbauer parameters are not generally valid.