Infrared Studies of Water in Crystalline Hydrates: K2CuCl4•2H2O

Infrared spectra of polycrystalline K2CuCl4•2H2O at different degrees of deuteration were recorded, between 4000 and 300 cm−1, at temperatures from −160 to 90 °C. The spectra confirm the existence of only one crystallographically distinct type of water molecule in the structure, on sites of symmetry C2r. Vibrational coupling of the bending fundamentals of the water molecule has been analyzed in detail. It is shown that the existence and magnitude of such coupling may be used to predict, from the spectrum of a hydrate, the manner in which a water molecule participates in the crystal structure. The structure and the vibrational spectra of K2CuCl4•2H2O are compared with those of the closely related CuCl2•2H2O.