The
design of hybrid materials relies on an understanding of the
structural building units present in the reaction, but identifying
these building units in solution can be hampered by difficulties in
the interpretation of the characteristic spectroscopic signals. The
importance of speciation and intermolecular interactions in identifying
building units was explored in the uranyl squarate and croconate system
with the isolation and characterization of six compounds: (USq1) [C4H12N2][(UO2)(C4O4)2(H2O)]·(H2O), (USq2) [C5H6N][(UO2)(C4O4)(μ2-OH)]·2H2O, (USq3) [C2H10N2]2[(UO2)6(C4O4)3(μ3-O)2(μ2-OH)6], (UCr1) [C4H12N2]2[(UO2)(C5O5)3(H2O)]·3H2O, (UCr2) [C5H6N]4[(UO2)4(C5O5)4(μ2-OH)4(H2O)4], and (UCr3) [C2H10N2]5[(UO2)6(C5O5)6(μ3-O)2(μ2-OH)6(H2O)4]. These compounds are built
upon the traditional monomeric, dimeric, and trimeric uranyl oligomers
that occur upon hydrolysis of the metal center. A combined solid and
solution spectroscopic approach was used to understand the impact
of uranyl oligomerization, ligand coordination, and intermolecular
interactions. The v
1(UO2
2+) Raman shift and the UV–visible spectrum for each
solid uranyl-squarate and uranyl-croconate compound reveals important
information regarding the impact of π–π interactions
on the chemical properties of uranyl hybrid materials.