Structure of the diamminecopper(I) ion in solution. An X-ray absorption spectroscopic study

Abstract

X-Ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) using synchrotron radiation has been used to probe the structure of copper (I) species in an aqueous ammonia solution that contains hydrazine to prevent any oxidation to copper (II) species. Combining a characteristic copper (I) pre-edge feature with the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) of the XAS enabled the stereochemistry and bond distances to be extracted for the predominant species, which is shown to be the diamminecopper (I) ion. The structure is linear with Cu—N bond lengths of 1.88 ± 0.02 Å.