X -R a y D if fr a c tio n S tu d y o f th e S o lv a tio n S tr u c tu r e o f th e C o b a lt ( I I ) I o n in N ,N -D im e th y lf o rm a m id e S o lu tio n Haruhiko Yokoyama*, Saeko Suzuki*, Masuo Goto*, Kazuteru Shinozaki*, Yuriko Abe**, and Shin-ichi Ishiguro*** * Department of Chemistry, Yokohama City University, Seto, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236, Japan ** Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Nara Women's University, Kita-uoya-nishi-machi, Nara 630, Japan *** Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812, Japan Z. Naturforsch. 50a, 301-306 (1995); received September 28, 1995 Dedicated to Prof. Hitoshi Ohtaki on the occasion of his 60th birthdayThe solvation structure of Co2+ in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) has been studied by X-ray diffraction measurements on cobalt (II) and magnesium (II) Perchlorate solutions of the same concen tration, using an isostructural substitution method. The radial distribution function revealed three distinct peaks assigned to the oxygen, amido carbon (CJ, and nitrogen atoms of six planar DMF molecules in the first coordination sphere around the metal atom. The distance from the cobalt atom to each atom (O, Cx, N) is 213,299, and 423 pm, respectively. This indicates that the Co-O-Cj bond angle is 122-123° and the metal atom is close to the O-Cj-N plane of the DMF molecule.