An infrared and Raman spectroscopic study of some metal pyridine tetracyanonickelate complexes

The results of an infrared and Raman spectroscopic study are presented for seven new metal pyridine tetracyanonickelate complexes, M(py)₂Ni(CN)₄, M = Mn, Co, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd. It is shown that the spectra are consistent with a proposed crystal structure for these complexes derived from X-ray diffraction measurements. The spectra can be clearly distinguished from those of analogous Hofmann-type clathrates with which the nickel complex had been previously confused. The copper complex has spectral features different from the other six compounds and an explanation is proposed in terms of a distortion of the general crystal structure due to the Jahn-Teller effect. Analysis of the single, sharp bands of coordinated pyridine offers a method of resolving some difficulties in earlier assignments of the normal modes of the free base. Several modes of coordinated pyridine have upward shifts in frequency compared to those in the free molecule and the shifts are metal dependent. An explanation, supported by a simple normal coordinate analysis on a model, is provided in terms of coupling with low frequency vibrations, particularly the M-N stretching frequency. Other vibrations of the Ni(CN)₄ group, which coordinates to the metals M to form a two-dimensional coordination polymer, are also metal dependent. It is similarly suggested that coupling with low frequency modes is the principal cause of the upward shifts in frequency.