An X-ray absorption spectroscopic investigation of the geometry of Pt(IV) in H2PtCl6 ammonia solution

Abstract The geometrical structure of noble metal cations has an important impact in many areas. Therefore, the structure of some noble cations in solution has been investigated in order to understand the relationship between the structure and property of noble metal cations in solution. In this contribution, the coordination chemistry of H 2 PtCl 6 in ammonia solution was investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). We found that Cl ligands around Pt with a Pt–Cl bond length of 2.32 A are completely replaced by NH 3 ligands with a Pt–N distance of 2.05 A. Theoretical calculations point out the occurrence of both a Pt–Cl and a Pt–N orbital hybridization. The observed ‘hybridization peak’ and the post-edge feature have been assigned to the contribution of Cl and N d -states.