Batch adsorption experiments in the presence of oxygen were performed to study the interlayer reactions
of aniline on Cu(II)-montmorillonite in aqueous solutions. At concentrations below a critical value of C
C
= 2.6 mmol dm-3 only a colored Cu(II)−aniline complex is formed, characterized by a stability constant
of log(K
assoc/dm3 mol-1) = 1.5. At concentrations beyond C
c aniline polymerizes yielding a dark brown
product, which is identified by two vibrational spectroscopy techniques, attenuated total reflection
Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and FT-Raman spectroscopy. Vibrational assignment of aniline, polyaniline, and the interlayer reaction products of aniline at Cu(II)-montmorillonite
was achieved by a comparison of the band position and intensity observed in the ATR and FT-Raman
spectra with wavenumbers and intensities (IR and Raman) from ab initio quantum-mechanical
calculations. Density functional theory (DFT, B3LYP/6-31G*) has been used to calculate the geometry,
frequencies, and intensities (IR and Raman) of aniline. The geometry and vibrational calculations of
a four-ring unit (emeraldine base, EB) are believed to be a good representation of the polyaniline at
Cu(II)-montmorillonite. The geometry of EB was fully optimized at the Hartree−Fock level of theory. The
data of polyaniline presented suggest that IR and Raman data calculated ab initio on relatively short
oligomers (quantum-mechanical oligomer approach) may provide valuable information regarding the
interpretation of vibrational spectra of polymers. From the comparison of experiments and calculations,
it is concluded that a catalytic/intercalation polymerization of aniline to polyaniline took place inside
the interlayer of the Cu(II)-montmorillonite clay mineral.