The first barium tin(II) bromide fluoride

Abstract

In an effort to prepare barium tin(II) bromide fluorides for the first time, possibly similar to the chloride fluorides obtained earlier in our laboratory, precipitation reactions were carried out by mixing aqueous solutions of SnF2 and of BaBr2.2H2O. In contrast with the chloride fluoride system, a single powdered phase was obtained throughout the SnF2 – BaBr2 system, with the yield being maximum at X ≈ 0.25, where X is the molar fraction of barium bromide in the reaction mixture. Phase identification with the JCPDS database failed to produce a match, confirming that a new phase had been produced. The exact chemical composition of the new compound has not been obtained yet. Based on the X value for the maximum yield, the Sn/Ba ratio is likely to be 3/1 or 2/1. The Mossbauer spectrum at ambient conditions shows that bonding to tin(II) is covalent, therefore with the tin lone pair being stereoactive. The Mossbauer parameters (δ = 3.68 mm/s, Δ = 0.99 mm/s) are similar to those of SnBrF and of Sn2BrF5, thereby showing that tin is bonded to both fluorine and bromine. The larger isomer shift and lower quadrupole splitting than in tin(II) fluorides show that the stereoactivity of the tin lone pair is lower than in the fluorides. The Mossbauer parameters fit well the linear correlation of the quadrupole splitting versus the isomer shift” that has been shown to be present in other series of tin(II) compounds. The linear decrease on this correlation shows that the contribution of non-spherical orbitals (p and d) to the lone pair is a much larger contributor to the quadrupole splitting than lattice distortions. The structure is likely made of Ba2+ cations and tin(II) fluoride bromide polyatomic anions, with covalent bonding withinthe anions.