Thermodynamic Aspects of Metal–Ion Complexation in the Structured Solvent, N-Methylformamide

Abstract

Chloride complexation of cobalt(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) ions has been studied by calorimetry and spectrophotometry in N-methylformamide (NMF) containing 1.0 mol-dm− 3 (n-C4H9)4NClO4 as an ionic medium at 298 K. A series of mononuclear complexes, MCln(2 -n) + (M=Co, Ni and Zn) with n = 1, 3 and 4 for cobalt(II), n = 1 for nickel(II), and n = 1–4 for zinc(II), are formed and their formation constants, enthalpies and entropies were obtained. It revealed that complexation is suppressed significantly in NMF relative to that in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) in all metal systems examined. The suppressed complexation in NMF is mainly ascribed to the smaller formation entropies in NMF reflecting that the solvent–solvent interaction or solvent structure in the bulk NMF is much stronger than that in the bulk DMF. Formation entropies, Δ S1o, of the monochloro complex in DMF, dimethyl sulfoxide and NMF are well correlated with the Marcus’ solvent parameter, Δ ΔvSo/R, according to Δ S1o/R = aΔ ΔvSo/R+b. The a value is negative and similar in all metal systems examined, whereas the b value depends on the metal system. When a gaseous ion is introduced into a solvent, the ionic process of solvation is divided into two stages: the ion destroys the bulk solvent structure to isolate solvent molecules at the first stage and the ion then coordinates a part of isolated solvent molecules around it at the second stage. We propose that the a and b values may reflect the changes in the freedom of motion of solvent molecules at the first and second stages, respectively, of the ionic process of solvation.