Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>In the present study the synthesis of metastable alloys of the noble metal Au and the semimetal Sb is realized by using high pressure techniques. The influence of Au on bulk Sb is shown experimentally by stepwise substitution. In addition to the effect of the most electronegative noble metal on Pauling's scale in the binary Au‐Sb phases, some ternary compounds with In, Sn, As, and Te in addition to Au and Sb are discussed. The experiments are planned to obtain a better knowledge on the reasons for building up a simple cubic Sb partial lattice, and their crystallographic results are used to construct model structures for new electronic structure calculations from first principles on the metastable π‐phases. Using the LCAO‐CO<jats:italic>ansatz</jats:italic>and density‐functional methods, we study total energies, band structures, densities of states and charge transfer properties according to Bader's method by integrating zero flux surfaces. Finally, from electronic band structure analysis, the quantities “chemical potential” μ, and “chemical hardness”, η, are derived according to the original ideas of<jats:italic>Pearson</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Parr</jats:italic>and are applied to solid state problems using special points of the Brillouin zones within a band structure approximation for the first time. The results are shown to support the experimental findings about the substitution path within the system Au‐Sb.</jats:p>