Structures of polynuclear complexes of palladium(II) and platinum(II) formed by slow hydrolysis in acidic aqueous solution.

The aqua ions of palladium(II) and platinum(II) undergo extremely slow hydrolysis in strongly acidic aqueous solution, resulting in polynuclear complexes. The size and structures of these species have been determined by EXAFS and small angle X-ray scattering, SAXS. For palladium(II), the EXAFS data show that the Pd-O and Pd···Pd distances are identical to those of crystalline palladium(II) oxide, but the intensities of the Pd···Pd distances in the Fourier transform at 3.