van der Waals Radii of Noble Gases

Consistent van der Waals radii are deduced for Ne–Xe, based on the noble gas···oxygen intermolecular distances found in gas phase structures. The set of radii proposed is shown to provide van der Waals distances for a wide variety of noble gas···element atom pairs that represent properly the distribution of distances both in the gas phase and in the solid state. Moreover, these radii show a smooth periodic trend down the group which is parallel to that shown by the halogens.