Iodate Refuses to Intimidate  NOVEMBER 11, 2011  Bookmark and
Share  For the first time, scientists were able to determine why
iodate ions reside in water: The iodine atom’s positive nature
allows it to draw in three water molecules and these additional
water molecules in turn allow the iodate ion to fit within
water’s structure. Image from Marcel D. Baer et al., J. Phys.
Chem. Lett. 2, 2650 (2011). ©2011 American Chemical Society.
Whether creating a catalyst for petroleum-free fuel or designing
better drug therapies, scientists need to control ions' actions
in water. To do this, the actions must be accurately
characterized. A new study by researchers from the U.S.
Department of Energy Office of Science’s Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory (PNNL) and Argonne National Laboratory,
aided by the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne, answers a
fundamental question about the behavior of large, negatively
charged ions with multiple atoms, called polyoxyanions.  Like a
bull in a china shop, a massive, iodine-based i