Vibrational properties and DFT calculations of formamidine-templated Co and Fe formates

Experimental Raman and IR spectra of NH₂-CH-NH₂]M(HCOO)₃] (M = Co, Fe), containing formamidinium cations NH₂-CH-NH₂]⁺ (FMD⁺) were recorded at room temperature. In order to assign the vibrational modes corresponding to the FMD⁺ cation, the three-parameter hybrid B3LYP density functional method has been used with the 6-311G(2d,2p) basis to derive the vibrational wavenumbers (harmonic and anharmonic), infrared intensities and Raman scattering activities of formamidine molecule and FMD⁺ cation. The performed calculations revealed that protonation should affect most significantly the ν(CH), ρ(NH₂), ω(NH₂) and τ(NH₂) modes, which are expected to shift towards higher wavenumbers after protonation.