Crystal Structure of Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
and Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
A. Leineweber
1)
, H. Jacobs*
Dortmund, Lehrstuhl fuÈ r Anorganische Chemie I, Fachbereich Chemie der UniversitaÈt
H. Ehrenberg
Darmstadt, Institute for Materials Science, Darmstadt University of Technology
Received April 19th, 2000.
Abstract. Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
and Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
were prepared by
the reaction of Ni(NH
3
)
2
X
2
with NiX
2
at 350 °C in a steel
autoclave. The crystal structures were determined by X-ray
powder diffraction using synchrotron radiation and refined
by Rietveld methods. Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
and Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
are iso-
typic and crystallize in the space group I2/m with Z = 8 and
for Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
: a = 14.8976(3) A
Ê
, b = 3.56251(6) A
Ê
, c =
13.9229(3) A
Ê
, b = 106.301(1)°; Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
: a = 15.5764(1) A
Ê
,
b = 3.74346(3) A
Ê
, c = 14.4224(1) A
Ê
, b = 105.894(1)°.
The crystal structures are built up by two crystallographi-
cally distinct but chemically mostly equivalent polymeric oc-
tahedra double chains
1
1
[NiX
3/3
X
2/2
(NH
3
)] (X = Cl, Br) run-
ning along the short b-axis. The octahedra NiX
5
NH
3
share
common edges therein.
The crystal structures of the ammines Ni(NH
3
)
m
X
2
with
m = 1, 2, 6 can be derived from that of the halides NiX
2
(X = Cl, Br) by successive fragmentation of its CdCl
2
like
layers by NH
3
.
Keywords: Nickel; Nickel ammine halides; Crystal structure
Die Kristallstruktur von Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
und Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
Inhaltsu
È
bersicht. Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
und Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
wurden durch
Reaktion von Ni(NH
3
)
2
X
2
mit NiX
2
bei 350 °C in einem
Stahlautoklav hergestellt. Mit Synchrotronstrahlung erhal-
tene RoÈntgenpulverdiffraktogramme wurden mit Rietveld-
methoden ausgewertet. Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
und Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
sind
isotyp. Die Struktur ist im Raumgruppentyp I2/m mit Z =8
zu beschreiben mit Ni(NH
3
)Cl
2
: a = 14,8976(3) A
Ê
, b =
3,56251(6) A
Ê
, c = 13,9229(3) A
Ê
, b = 106,301(1)°; Ni(NH
3
)Br
2
:
a = 15,5764(1) A
Ê
, b = 3,74346(3) A
Ê
, c = 14,4224(1) A
Ê
, b =
105,894(1)°.
Die Kristallstruktur enthaÈlt zwei kristallographisch inaÈqui-
valente, chemisch jedoch im wesentlichen gleichwertige po-
lymere Oktaederdoppelketten
1
1
[NiX
3/3
X
2/2
(NH
3
)] (X = Cl,
Br), die entlang der kurzen b-Achse verlaufen. Die Okta-
eder NiX
5
NH
3
sind kantenverknuÈ pft.
Die Kristallstrukturen der Ammine Ni(NH
3
)
m
X
2
mit
m = 1, 2, 6 lassen sich vom wasserfreien Halogenid NiX
2
(X = Cl, Br) dadurch herleiten, daû seine CdCl
2
-artigen
Schichten sukzessive durch NH
3
fragmentiert werden.
Introduction
Ammines of the general composition M(NH
3
)
n
X
m
must be regarded as solvates of a salt MX
m
. In most
cases discrete solvation numbers n exist. These can
e. g. be determined by measuring the decomposition
pressures over the solids as a function of n and tem-
perature. Many of such studies were carried out in the
early 20
th
century and summarized by Jander, Spandau
and Addison [1].
Ammines are of interest for several reasons. First of
all, details of the stepwise solvation of a salt by NH
3
are of interest. In contrast to water NH
3
cannot serve
as a bridging ligand between two metal atoms. This re-
stricts the topological variety of ammines. Therefore,
ammines are well suited for systematic structural stu-
dies as e. g. performed on Al(NH
3
)
n
Cl
3
with n =1, 2,
3, 5, 6 [2±5].
Furthermore, the rotational dynamics of the NH
3
molecules fixed by coordinative bonds to metal atoms,
often accompanied by order-disorder transformations
(e. g. in hexaammine metal(II) halides [6]) were exten-
sively studied. One important aspect in these studies
is the role of hydrogen bonds N±H ´ ´ ´ X in ammines
[7].
For the group of ammines with M = Mg, Mn, Fe,
Co, Ni (with m = 2) and X = Cl, Br, I strong similari-
ties are found as the different systems show similar
sets of solvation numbers with n £ 6: n = 1, 2, 6 for
2146 Ó WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, D-69451 Weinheim, 2000 0044±2313/00/6262146±2152 $ 17.50+.50/0 Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 2000, 626, 2146±2152
1)
Present address: MPI fuÈ r Metallforschung, Seestraûe 92,
D-70174 Stuttgart, Germany
* Prof. Dr. H. Jacobs,
Fachbereiche Chemie der UniversitaÈt,
Lehrstuhl fuÈr Anorganische Chemie I,
D-44221 Dortmund