Recent Progress on Structure of Aqueous Polyborate Solutions

英文关键词:Solution structure  polyborate  X-ray scattering  dihydrogen bond  EXAFS

中文摘要:

      

英文摘要:

      The crystal structure of metal borates has been extensively investigated by X-ray and neutron diffraction,but,the structure of aqueous polyborate solutions are still largely unknown.Over the last decade,our group has focused on studying the structure of complex aqueous polyborate solutions of Li,Na,K,Rb,Cs,and Mg using synchrotron radiation X-ray scattering(XRS),EXAFS,Raman,NMR,and DFT,as well as determining the density,conductivity and pH of such solutions.Polyborate species distributions were calculated using pH measurements,and the main species in the solution have been confirmed by NMR and Raman spectra.For alkali-metal metaborates,the dominant species is always B(OH)-₄in a wide range of concentration,while the presence of others species is negligible.For alkali metal tetraborates,when concentration is in the extreme low range,only B(OH)₃ and B(OH)-₄ are present in these solutions.As the total boron concentration increases,B(OH)₃ and B(OH)-₄ polycondensated to form more complex oligomers.Of them,while B₄O₅(OH)2-₄ in the tetraborate solutions is the main species,B(OH)₃,B(OH)-₄,and B₃O₃(OH)-₄ are minor species,and B₃O₃(OH)2-₅ and B₅O₆OH)-₄ are present only in negligible amounts.As solution continues to concentrate,B₄O₅(OH)2-₄ eventually becomes the dominant species,which is consistent with the congruent compound M₂B₄O₇·nH₂O(M=Li,Na,K,Rb,Cs) in the system M₂O-B₂O₃-H₂O(M=Li,Na,K,Rb,Cs).For alkali metal pentaborates,B(OH)₃ and B(OH)-₄ are the main species at low concentrations.The species distribution,Raman and NMR spectroscopy results verified that the dominant species in concentrated pentaborate solutions with Li and Na is pentaborate B₅O₆OH)-₄,but it is surprising that the main species with K,Rb,and Cs is always the triborate monoanion B₃O₃(OH)-₄.Although all M[B₅O₆OH)₄]·nH₂O(M=Li,Na,K,Rb,Cs) are all congruent compounds in the system M₂O-B₂O₃-H₂O(M=Li,Na,K,Rb,Cs) ,the main species in aqueous solutions are quite different because of various cation hydration distance(d),hydration number(CN),and configuration,especially charge(Z).For bivalent Mg²⁺,three borate minerals,namely,Inderite(2MgO·3B₂O₃·15H₂O),Hungchaoite(MgO·2B₂O₃·9H₂O),and Mcallisterite(MgO·3B₂O₃·7.5H₂O),exist in the system MgO-B₂O₃-H₂O at 298K.Inderite is a congruent compound,but Hungchaoite and Mcallisterite are incongruent compounds.The species distribution and Raman spectra demonstrat that the predominant species in all the solutions with magnesium borates is bivalent triborate B₃O₃(OH)2-₅,while the subordinate species are B(OH)-₄ at a low B₂O₃/MgO ratio and B(OH)₃at a high B₂O₃/MgO ratio,and the other anions are negligible,as the high Z of the borate anion must match that of Mg²⁺.The disappearance of divalent B₄O₅(OH)2-₄ is in agreement with its incongruent nature.The DFT and XRS results showed that tetrahedral Li(H₂O)⁺₄(d=0.20 nm,CN=4),octahedral Na(H₂O)₆⁺(d=0.236 nm,CN=6),and Mg(H₂O)²⁺₆(d=0.210 nm,CN=6) in the first hydration shell belong to Platonic polyhedra.However,K(H₂O)⁺₈(d=0.28 nm,CN=8,XRS and DFT),Rb(H₂O)⁺₈(d=0.293 nm,CN=7.7-8.2,EXAFS),and Cs(H₂O)⁺₈(d=0.320-0.326 nm,CN=7.6-7.9,EXAFS) are inclined Voronoi polyhedra.Therefore,the effects of cation Z and d on the structure of polyborates in aqueous solutions are deterministic,while the effect of hydrated-cation symmetry is secondary.Their hydrolysis order was:Mg＞Li＞Na＞K＞Rb＞Cs,in step with hydration power.Among them,Mg²⁺ and Li⁺have a strong tendency towards hydrolysis,but Na⁺ scarcely hydrolyzes,especially Rb⁺ and Cs⁺ have a little protonation.X-ray scattering of aqueous alkaline sodium borohydride solutions confirmed that dihydrogen bonds exist in an aqueous solution.The four distinct features of dihydrogen bonds in aqueous solution-unidirectionality,divaricativity,multicentricity,and multidentativity have been also described here in brief.