Tetracyanomanganate(II) and its salts of divalent first-row transition metal ions.

The first known paramagnetic, tetrahedral cyanide complex, [Mn(II)(CN)(4)](2)(-), is formed by the photoinduced decomposition of [Mn(IV)(CN)(6)](2)(-) in nonaqueous solutions or by thermal decomposition in the solid state. In acetonitrile or dichloromethane, photoexcitation into the ligand-to-metal charge transfer band (lambda(max) = 25 700 cm(-1), epsilon = 3700 cm(-1) M(-1)) causes the homolytic cleavage of cyanide radicals and reduction of Mn(IV). Free cyanide in dichloromethane leads to the isolation of polycyanide oligomers such as [C(12)N(12)](2)(-) and [C(4)N(4)](-), which was crystallographically characterized as the PPN(+) salt C(40)H(30)N(5)P(2): monoclinic space group = I2/a, a = 18.6314(2) A, b = 9.1926(1) A, c = 20.8006(1), beta =106.176(2) degrees, Z = 4]. In the solid state Mn(IV)-CN bond homolysis is thermally activated above 122 degrees C, according to differential scanning calorimetry measurements, leading to the reductive elimination of cyanogen. The [Mn(II)(CN)(4)](2-) ion has a dynamic solution behavior, as evidenced by its concentration-dependent electronic and electron paramagnetic spectra, that can be attributed to aggregation of the coordinatively and electronically unsaturated (four-coordinate, 13-electron) metal center. Due to dynamics and lability of [Mn(II)(CN)(4)](2-) in solution, its reaction with divalent first-row transition metal cations leads to the formation of lattice compounds with both tetrahedral and square planar local coordination geometries of the metal ions and multiple structural and cyano-linkage isomers. alpha-Mn(II)[Mn(II)(CN)(4)] has an interpenetrating sphalerite- or diamond-like network structure with a unit cell parameter of a = 6.123 A (P43m space group) while a beta-phase of this material has a noninterpenetrating disordered lattice containing tetrahedral [Mn(II)(CN)(4)](2-). Linkage isomerization or cyanide abstraction during formation results in alpha-Mn(II)[Co(II)(CN)(4)] and Mn(II)[Ni(II)(CN)(4)] lattice compounds, both containing square planar tetracyanometalate centers. alpha-Mn(II)[Co(II)(CN)(4)] is irreversibly transformed to its beta-phase in the solid state by heating to 135 degrees C, which causes a geometric isomerization of [Co(II)(CN)(4)](2)(-) from square planar (nu(CN) = 2114 cm(-1), S = (1)/(2)) to tetrahedral (nu(CN) = 2158 cm(-1), S = (3)/(2)) as evidenced by infrared and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Mn(II)[Ni(II)(CN)(4)] is the only phase formed with Ni(II) due to the high thermodynamic stability of square planar [Ni(II)(CN)(4)](2)(-).