- Palladium(II) cyanide
Palladium(II) cyanide describes any chemical species with the
empirical formula Pd(CN)n(2-"n")-. The dicyanide ("n" = 2, CAS: [2035-66-7] ) is acoordination polymer of minor significance. It likely has a structure consisting ofsquare planar Pd(II) centers linked by cyanideligand s, which are bonded through both the carbon and nitrogen atoms.The slightly more topical palladium(II) cyanide is the dianion [Pd(CN)4] 2-. This compound is renowned for its extraordinary stability, with a predicted stability constant of 1065 to 1075 as defined by the following process::: [Pd(H2O)4] 2+ + 4 CN- → [Pd(CN)4] 2- + 4 H2OThe affinity of Pd for cyanide is so great that palladium metal is attacked by cyanide solutions:::Pd(s) + 2 H+ + 4 CN- → [Pd(CN)4] 2- + H2This reaction is reminiscent of the “cyanide process” for the extraction of gold, although in the latter reaction O2 is proposed to be involved, to give H2O.
Exchange of between free cyanide ion and [Pd(CN)4] 2- has been evaluated by 13C
NMR spectroscopy . That exchange occurs at all illustrates the ability of some compounds to belabile (fast reactions) but also stable (high formation constants). Thereaction rate is described as follows:::rate = "k"2 [M(CN)42-] [CN-] , where "k"2 120 M-1-s-1The bimolecular kinetics implicate a so-calledassociative pathway . The associative mechanism of exchange entails rate-limiting attack of cyanide on [Pd(CN)4] 2-, possibly with the intermediacy of a highly reactive pentacoordinate species [Pd(CN)5] 3-. By comparison, the rate constant for [Ni(CN)4] 2- is > 500,000 M-1-s-1, whereas [Pt(CN)4] 2-exchanges more slowly at 26 M-1s-1. Such associative reactions are characterized by large negative entropies of activation, in this case: -178 and -143 kJ/(mol·K) for Pd and Pt, respectively.References
*R. D. Hancock, A. Evers “Formation Constant of Pd(CN)42-” Inorganic Chemistry, Volume 15, 995-6 (1976).
*J. J. Pesek, W. R. Mason “Cyanide Exchange Kinetics for Planar Tetracyanometalate Complexes by Carbon-13 NMR” Inorganic Chemistry 1983, 22, 2958-2959.
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