Alkali-metal ion coordination in uranyl(VI) poly-peroxo complexes in solution, inorganic analogues to crown-ethers. Part 2. Complex formation in the tetramethyl ammonium-, Li(+)-, Na(+)- and K(+)-uranyl(VI)-peroxide-carbonate systems.

The constitution and equilibrium constants of ternary uranyl(vi) peroxide carbonate complexes [(UO2)p(O2)q(CO3)r](2(p-q-r)) have been determined at 0 °C in 0.50 M MNO3, M = Li, K, and TMA (tetramethyl ammonium), ionic media using potentiometric and spectrophotometric data; (17)O NMR data were used to determine the number of complexes present. The formation of cyclic oligomers, "[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]n", n = 4, 5, 6, with different stoichiometries depending on the ionic medium used, suggests that Li(+), Na(+), K(+) and TMA ions act as templates for the formation of uranyl peroxide rings where the uranyl-units are linked by μ-η(2)-η(2) bridged peroxide-ions. The templating effect is due to the coordination of the M(+)-ions to the uranyl oxygen atoms, where the coordination of Li(+) results in the formation of Li[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]4(7-), Na(+) and K(+) in the formation of Na/K[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]5(9-) complexes, while the large tetramethyl ammonium ion promotes the formation of two oligomers, TMA[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]5(9-) and TMA[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]6(11-). The NMR spectra demonstrate that the coordination of Na(+) in the five- and six-membered oligomers is significantly stronger than that of TMA(+); these observations suggest that the templating effect is similar to the one observed in the synthesis of crown-ethers. The NMR experiments also demonstrate that the exchange between TMA[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]5(9-) and TMA[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]6(11-) is slow on the (17)O chemical shift time-scale, while the exchange between TMA[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]6(11-) and Na[(UO2)(O2)(CO3)]6(11-) is fast. There was no indication of the presence of large clusters of the type identified by Burns and Nyman (M. Nyman and P. C. Burns, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 7314-7367) and possible reasons for this and the implications for the synthesis of large clusters are briefly discussed.