Consistent approaches to van der Waals radii for the metallic elements

Abstract Due to the paucity of data on non-bonding interactions for metal atoms, no complete tabulation is available for crystallographic van der Waals radii for metallic elements. In this work several sets of van der Waals radii for metal atoms are derived indirectly. Unique data resources used for the derivation are (i) average volumes of elements in crystals, (ii) single covalent radii, (iii) Allinger´s van der Waals radii, as well as (iv) bond valence parameters for metal-oxygen bonds. The van der Waals radii for metal atoms deduced from these various approaches are basically comparable with each other, but are strikingly different from those from Bondi’s system of van der Waals radii. A complete set of new values for metallic elements up to Am, derived from bond valence parameters, are recommended.