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Nature Chemistry (5 June 2009) | doi:10.1038/nchem.278

Beryllium dimer: Elusive bond elucidated

Anne Pichon

Theoretical calculations can predict the structure and properties of increasingly large molecules — yet understanding the electronic ground state of the beryllium dimer, with its eight electrons, has remained challenging. Numerous models have suggested different bond lengths and dissociation energies, but the few samples obtained experimentally could not provide sufficient information to elucidate the dimer's structure.