A thermal and structural study on Lanthanum Hexacyanocobaltate(III) pentahydrate,La[Co(CN)6]·5H2O. Part III

On dehydration of LaCo(CN)₆]·5H₂O, the color of the complex, changes from white to pale blue at around 230°C. Heating the pale blue specimen, the color changes to deep blue at around 290°C. This deep blue specimen is easily rehydrated to a pink one. As reported previously, in the pale blue specimen, Co³⁺ ions are situated in the center of the D_4h crystal field formed by six CN^- ions. The deep blue specimen is due to the presence of Co(CN)₄]^2- ions in which Co²⁺ was situated in a T_d coordination field formed by four CN^- ions and the Co-C bond length is 1.67 Ĺ. The pink species corresponded to trans-Co(CN)₄(H₂O)₂]^2- and the bond lengths of Co-C and Co-O are 1.89 and 1.85 Ĺ, respectively. The Raman spectra of the complex observed at 25°C displays two bands at 2157 and 2176 cm^-1 associated with the vibration of C-N bond, and the band of 2157 cm^-1 was split into two bands, 2150 and 2156 cm^-1, at around 100°C. When the complex was heated to around 230°C, three new bands were observed at 2103, 2116 and 2141 cm-1. The bands of 2103 and 2116 cm^-1 were assigned to the stretching vibration of C=N bonding to Co²⁺. The band of 2141 cm^-1 was assigned to the stretching vibration of the inverted CN^- as follows: Co-C=N-La→Co-N=C-La. The activation energy for the inversion of CN^- was estimated as 67 kJ mol^-1. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.