Structural characteristics of amorphous K-Bi citrate (De-Nol) and its aqueous solutions from EXAFS spectra.

EXAFS (Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure) spectra of an amorphous solid Bi complex with citrate (known as De-Nol) and its aqueous solutions in a wide concentration range are measured. For the solutions good agreement is revealed between their structural parameters and the averaged interatomic distances and coordination numbers of the crystalline polymeric bismuth citrate compound composed of 12-nuclear Bi clusters based on the structure BiO. So, it is found that droplets of the colloidal solution have a core structure close to the solid BiO cluster structure. When the concentrated solution is diluted the cluster structure is somewhat modified, it remaining similar to the structure of the BiO cluster and even at a tenfold dilution and the nearest (oxygen) spheres of the Bi environment changing insignificantly. The appearance in this case of an additional oxygen atom at a large distance from the bismuth atom likely due to the presence of the oxygen atom from the hydroxyl group of the diluted aqueous solution. The appearance of such oxygen is in accordance with particles size increase for diluted solution obtained by small-angle X-ray diffraction measurements. It is established that the structure of the amorphous solid complex is multiphase and, as a whole, similar to the structure of the solid binuclear complexes.