Infrared Studies of Water in Crystalline Hydrates: Sodium Nitroprusside Dihydrate, Na2[Fe(CN)5NO]•2H2O

Abstract

Infrared spectra of polycrystalline Na2[Fe(CN)5NO] 2H2O at different degrees of deuteration were studied as a function of temperature. The single peaks observed for the bending fundamentals of isotopically dilute H2O and D2O show that all the water molecules are equivalent, as required by Manoharan and Hamilton's structure determination; the doublets observed for the three fundamentals of isotopically dilute HDO show that the water molecules are asymmetric. Doublet separation decreases gradually with increasing temperature, indicating decreasing asymmetry. The water molecule appears to orient itself so as to maximize the strength of one [Formula: see text] bond, while the other OH group interacts only very weakly with another CN group. The hitherto unknown extent to which the nitroprusside ion deviates from the ideal C4v symmetry has been estimated from the 13C14N stretching spectrum. The 15N16O and 14N18O stretching spectrum was used to confirm that only one type of NO group is present in the crystal, and hence that all nitroprusside ions are equivalent.